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Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 

in  2010  with  funding  from 

NCSU  Libraries 


http://www.archive.org/details/freehandletterinOOwils 


Works  of  VICTOR  T.  WILSON 


PUBLISHED  BY 


JOHN  WILEY  &  SONS. 


Free-Hand  Perspective. 

For  Use  in  Manual  Training  Schools  and  Colleges. 
By  Victor  T.  Wilson.     8vo,  iii  +  257  pages,  139  figures. 

Cloth,  $2  50. 

Free-Hand  Lettering. 

Being  a  Treatise  on  Plain  Lettering  from  the  Prac- 
tical Standpoint  for  Use  in  Engineering  Schools  and 
Colleges.  8vo,  105  pages,  23  full-page  plates.  Cloth, 
$1.00. 


FREE-HAND   LETTERING. 


A    TREATISE   ON  PLAIN   LETTERING    FROM 

THE  PRACTICAL  STANDPOINT  FOR  USE 

IN    ENGINEERING     SCHOOLS 

AND    COLLEGES. 


VICTOR  T.   WILSON,    M.E., 

Author  of  Free-Hand  Perspective. 


FIRST  EDITION. 
FIFTH   THOUSAND. 


NEW   YORK: 

JOHN  WILEY  &  SONS. 

London:  CHAPMAN   &  HALL,   Limited. 

1906 


Br 
TICrOB  T.  WELSOIB. 


EC21ST  ;HTifK"y~.  p?.:yr53-  vnr  tths. 


PREFACE. 


The  student  who  takes  up  the  study  of  lettering,  as 
outHned  in  these  pages,  will  not  find  it  to  consist  of  a 
set  of  copies  which  if  reproduced  carefully  will  give 
proficiency  in  the  subject;  copy  work  seldom  yields  more 
than  a  meaningless  result,  it  does  not  lead  to  independent 
and  creative  work.  Erroneous  conceptions  have  grown 
out  of  the  idea  that  letters  are  standard,  that  they  are 
rigidly  fixed  in  their  forms;  the  truth  is  there  are  no 
really  fixed  forms.  Variety  will  be  found  to  some  degree 
in  all  lettering ;  each  line  of  it  the  draftsman  makes  is 
creative  work. 

Nor  should  he  who  undertakes  the  study  be  en- 
couraged to  think  that  a  few  hours  of  labor  will  develop 
proficiency.  It  is  not  an  easy  task,  long  and  patient 
labor  rightly  directed  will  alone  give  that  certainty  of 
touch  and  judgment  of  values  which  are  necessary. 
The  student  is  dealing  with  forms  having  a  character 
which  can  be  spoiled,  while  apparently  departing  but 
little  from  the  fundamental  type,  and  which,  on  the 
other  hand,  can  be  treated  with  an  almost  infinite  and 


iv  PREF/ICE. 

subtle  variation  without  detracting  from  the  result  if 
done  in  the  right  way. 

Without  a  measurable  knowledge  of  free-hand  draw- 
ing, wherein  is  derived  accuracy  of  hand  and  eye  and  an 
intelligent  sense  of  proportion,  it  will  be  found  impos- 
sible, beyond  the  merely  imitative,  to  do  good  work. 
The  author  has  endeavored  to  treat  the  subject  with  this 
in  view.  Emphasis  is  laid  upon  attaining  a  proper 
attitude,  through  the  development  of  a  letter,  a  word 
or  hne  of  words  by  a  sketch  method,  analogous  to  that 
used  in  other  free-hand  drawing.  It  is  the  object  to 
cultivate  the  conception  that  all  lettering  is  design, 
that  any  mathematical  or  mechanical  attempt  at  treat- 
ment is  entirely  impracticable  in  ordinary"  work.  Em- 
phasis is  also  laid  upon  attaining  faciHty  in  the  free 
single-stroke  letter  used  on  working  drawings,  by  a 
careful  analysis  of  the  stroking  and  by  practical  points 
about  the  handling  of  the  pen  and  a  description  and 
an  illustration  of  a  variety  of  styles  from  which  to  choose. 

The  chapter  upon  the  design  of  letters,  which  it 
is  hoped  will  afford  matter  of  interest  to  the  thoughtful 
student,  is  not  intended  to  form  part  of  a  regular  course 
of  study,  but  is  for  occasional  reference  only.  It  is  a 
phase  of  the  subject  either  overlooked  or  but  sHghtly 
touched  upon  in  books  on  lettering. 

Attention  is  called  to  the  footnotes  added  to  a  number 
of  the  plates,  summarizing  the  chief  points  to  be  noted 
about  them,  also  to  the  references  printed  imder  each 
plate,  covering  all  the  places  in  which  each  is  discussed 


PREFACE.  V 

in  the  text.     It  is  hoped  that  this  will  be  found  a  con- 
venience in  using  the  book  for  reference. 

A  number  of  authorities  have  been  consulted  in  the 
preparation  of  the  work,  among  them  Prof.  Henry  S. 
Jacoby's  book  on  "  Plain  Lettering,"  an  excellent  treatise ; 
J.  C.  L.  Fish's  "Lettering  of  Working  Drawings,"  con- 
taining some  good  practical  offhand  styles ;  "  A  Practical 
System  of  Offhand  Lettering,"  by  Chas.  W.  Reinhardt, 
also  notable  in  its  treatment  of  oft'hand  styles  and  in 
the  analysis  of  the  stroking  for  the  same ;  Frank  C. 
Brown's  "Letters  and  Lettering,"  probably  the  most 
artistic  treatment  of  letters  which  has  appeared  up  to 
the  present  time:  from  these  the  author  has  taken  the 
liberty  occasionally  to  quote.  His  thanks  are  also  due 
to  Messrs.  Chas.  Scribner  &  Sons  for  permission  to  copy 
some  styles  from  the  recent  treatise  of  Lewis  F.  Day, 
"Alphabets,  Old  and  New,"  and  which  constitutes  the 
matter  on  Plate  XXL 

Victor  T.  Wilson. 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS. 


PAGB 

Preface "i 

CHAPTER  I. 

THE    CONSTRUCTION    OF    ROMAN    AND    GOTHIC    LETTERS. 

1.  Good  Lettering  is  not  Mechanical,  but  is  Good  Design i 

2.  Illustrative  Example 4 

3.  Brief  History  of  the  Roman  and  Gothic  Letters 7 

4.  The  Roman  Letter 9 

5.  Variations  in  the  Different  Letters 11 

6.  The  Roman  Letter  is  not  a  Fixed  Type 13 

7.  Further  Analysis  of  the  Roman  Letters 14 

8.  Analysis  of  the  Small  Letters 18. 

9.  The  Roman  Numerals 19 

10.  Proportions  of  the  Roman  Letters  Vary 20 

11.  The  Gothic  Letter 22 

12.  Analysis  of  the  Gothic  Capitals 22 

13.  Analysis  of  the  Small  Letters  and  Numerals 23 

14.  Italicized  Roman  and  Gothic  Letters 24 

15.  Stump  Writing 25 

16.  The  Proper  Ratio  of  Small  Letters  to  Capitals 26 

CHAPTER  II. 

SPACING. 

17.  Spacing  is  a  Problem  in  Design 28 

18.  Spacing  Depends  upon  Several  Variables 28 

19.  Illustrative  Example 29 

vii 


via  T/iBLE  OF  CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

20.  Development  of  Proper  Space  by  Sketch  Method ^2 

2 1 .  Sketching  Preliminarily  in  Outhne  Gothic 34 

22.  Spacing  of  Words,  Punctuation,  etc 35 

CHAPTER  III. 

THE    USE    OF    THE    PEN    AND    OFFHAND    LETTERING. 

23.  Letters  Should  be  Drawn  Throughout,  not  Copied 37 

24.  The  Kind  of  Pen  to  Use 38 

25.  The  Kind  of  Ink  to  Use 40 

26.  The  Kind  of  Paper  to  Use 40 

27.  How  to  Handle  the  Pen  for  Ofiliand  Lettering 41 

28.  The  Outline  Gothic  for  OfQiand  Work 44 

29.  Other  Offhand  Styles 46 

.^0.  Some  Special  Directions  about  the  L^se  of  the  Pen 50 

31.  Proper  Size  for  Ofthand  Lettering 52 

CHAPTER  IV. 

DESIGN    OF    LINES    AND    OF    TITLES. 

32.  The  Single-line  Title 54 

33.  The  Choice  of  Style  and  Size 55 

34.  How  to  Lay  Out  the  Line 57 

35.  Degree  of  Finish  to  Give  a  Title 58 

36.  The  Design  of  Grouped  Titles 59 

37.  Various  Considerations  to  be  Observed  in  Designing 60 

38.  Example  of  How  to  Lay  Out  and  Execute  the  Design 62 

39.  A  Title  may  be  Variously  Treated 64 

CHAPTER  V. 

LETTERING    FOR    VARIOUS    TECHNICAL     PURPOSES,     INCLUDING    PHOTO- 
REPRODUCTION. 

40.  General  Statement 66 

41 .  Lettering  on  Maps 66 

42.  Architect's  Lettering 68 

43.  Lettering  on  Working  Drawings  for  Manufacturing 69 

44.  Lettering  for  Photo-reproduction 71 

45.  Lettering  for  Patent  Office  Drawing 74 

46.  Lettering  for  Advertising  Purposes 75 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS.  iX 
CHAPTER  VI. 

THE    DESIGN    OF    LETTERING. 

PAGE 

47.  General  Statement 79 

48.  Single-stroke  Gothic  may  be  Taken  as  the  Basis  for  all  Design .  80 

49.  The  Preservation  of  Type  Style 81 

50.  The  Old  Roman  Letter 83 

51.  The  Effect  of  Changing  Proportions  and  Spacing 84 

52.  Other  Considerations  in  Design 85 

53.  Open-  and  Closed-body  Letters 87 

54.  The  Limitations  of  Letters 88 

CHAPTER  VIL 

MECHANICAL    AIDS    TO    LETTERING. 

55.  General  Statement 91 

56.  Practical  Points  about  Executing  a  Ruled  Letter 92 

57.  Drafting-room  Practice  in  the  Use  of  Stock  Titles  Reproduced 

in  Blue-prints,  etc 93 

58.  Lettering  Triangles 94 


LIST  OF  FULL-PAGE  PLATES, 


I.  Modem  Rotnan  Capitals  Analyzed, 
n.  Modem  Gothic  Capitals  Analyzed. 

III.  Modem    Roman  and  Gothic  Small  Letters   and  Numerals 

Analj'zed. 

IV.  Roman  and   Gothic   Capitals   a^d   Sntall   Letters  and  Nu- 

merals Italicized. 
V.  Stump  Writing  and  Single-Hne  Gothic. 
VL  Illustrations  of  Roman   and   Gothic    Letters   Formed  into 
Words. 
Vll.  Illustrations  of  Spacing. 
"VIII.  Single-stroke  Upright  Gothic  and  its  Variati:ns  f:r  Working 
Drawings. 
IX.  Various  Offlhand  Styles  for  Working  Drawings  and  Illustra- 
tions Showing  their  Application. 
X.  A  Working   Drawing   Title    Shown    in    Varl:-^s    Stages    of 

Sketch  Development. 
XI .  A  Working-drawing  Tit '.i  7  -     -   "  '  r  :-.  ^' ;.  H  -  -  : :  ~  ?, -  -  = 
XII.  A  Working  Drawing  Sh  ,  Att    ;;.      :.    ;;    Cf;.iand 

Lettering  and  Dimen;:       -       :  r ; ; 
XIII.  Titles  on  Working  Draw::  ,    7 :-.'.-:      :r : m  Original  Sources. 
XrV.  Titles  on  Working  Draw  ::  v^  7  7 :  r.  :r :  ~  Original  Sources. 
XV.  Letters  Authorized  by  thr  7    ?    7     .:  r::i- Surrey. 
XVI.  Letters  and  Conventions  .7  :  7  r  :   7  7;   7:ie  77  S.  Geological 

Survey. 
X\,'I  I .  Alphabets  Stiitable  for  Architectural  D  ra— in  ~s . 
X\T[II.  Architecttiral  Titles. 
XIX.  Illustrations  of  the  Effects  of  Photo-reproduction. 
XX.  Illustrations  of  Advertising  Lettering. 
XXI.  Various  Deagned  Letters. 
XXII.  Modem  Roman-Gothic  Alphabet  of  Capitals  and  Small  Letters 

and  Numerals. 
XXIII.  Old  Roman  Alphabet  of  Capitals  and  Small  Letters. 


FREE-HAND  LETTERING. 


CHAPTER  I. 

THE   CONSTRUCTION  OF    ROMAN  AND   GOTHIC  LETTERS. 

I.  Good  Lettering  is  not  Mechanical,  but  is  Good  Design. 

The  lettering  which  the  draftsman  in  practice  is 
called  upon  most  frequently  to  make  consists  of  a  rapidly 
executed  statement,  upon  a  drawing,  descriptive  or 
otherwise ;  the  style  most  suitable,  therefore,  is  a  simple 
one  which  through  practice  he  learns  to  do  readily. 
Now  and  then  a  design  of  a  group  of  lettering  is  called 
for,  such  as  we  find  in  the  titles  to  working  drawings, 
but  more  frequently  even  this  is  very  plain  and  executed 
in  some  one  style  throughout. 

The  beginner  is  apt  to  approach  the  subject  with  the 
misconception  that  lettering  is  a  form  of  mechanical 
drawing,  that  the  use  of  the  straight-edge  is  in  order, 
that  the  various  letter  forms  and  the  spaces  between 
them  can  be  figured  out  by  measurement ;  unf ortimately 
books  on  lettering  have  been  apt  to  encourage  this 
misconception    by    containing    large    alphabets,     very 


2  FREE-H/iND  LETTERING. 

rigidly  analyzed  as  to  proportions,  etc.,  with  little  ex- 
planatory^ matter  attached,  so  that  the  impression  is 
left  that  mathematical  exactness  is  most  important. 
In  this  respect,  ordinarv"  printed  lettering  from  type  is 
not  an  instance  of  good  lettering,  for  the  forms  come 
together  as  best  the}'  may  and  do  not  produce  a  imiform 
result.  This  lack  of  harmony  can  easih'  be  detected  by 
any  one  who  has  keen  perceptions ;  it  is  easy  to  discern, 
for  example,  whether  or  not,  in  certain  advertisements 
that  come  imder  our  notice  daily,  the  Roman  and  Gothic 
letters  are  set  up  in  type  or  reproduced  from  an  original 
drawing. 

Fundamentally  good  lettering  will  be  good  design. 
Just  as  the  designer  of  fabrics  or  wall-paper  takes  his 
forms  and  distributes  them  over  prearranged  spaces  in 
a  uniform  and  pleasing  mariner,  so  the  letterer  takes  his 
more  rigid  forms,  his  letters,  and  distributes  them 
tiniformly  in  his  prearranged  spaces  so  as  to  gi\'e  a 
combination  pleasing  to  the  eye. 

Good  design  in  lettering  requires  first  that  we  have 
simplicity  in  style.  There  are  no  more  striking  instances 
of  good  lettering  than  are  to  be  foimd  on  the  bill-board, 
street- car  and  other  advertising.  If  the  student  wiU 
take  the  trouble  to  investigate,  he  will  find  that  the 
letters  used  most  frequently  are  the  simple  Roman  or 
Gothic,  more  often  the  latter  (see  Plates  I  and  11). 

The  second  requisite  in  good  lettering  is  uniformity 
in  the  effect.  This  can  be  explained  best  b}'  taking  a 
line  of  lettering  as  an  illustration — line  5,  let  us  say,  on 


CONSTRUCTION  OF  ROMAN  AND  GOTHIC  LETTERS.         3 

Plate  VII.  The  separate  letters  should  appear  to  be  of 
the  same  height,  the  same  size,  and  the  spaces  should 
also  appear  to  be  uniform,  not  to  mention  that  each 
letter  must  be  of  the  same  alphabet  style.  Both  con- 
siderations, simplicity  of  style  and  imiformity  of  treat- 
ment, are  accomplished  through  the  aid  of  judgment  and 
taste,  combined  with  accuracy  of  hand  and  eye  in  the 
detection  of  small  differences.  To  be  sure  letter  forms 
are  somewhat,  although  not  entirely,  standard.  No 
rules  can  be  followed  which  are  practical  and  which  will 
invariably  produce  the  same  result  with  all  forms  in 
various  combinations,  notwithstanding  that  books  on 
the  subject  strive  to  find  rules  to  cover  all  cases.  They 
are  largely  unsuccessful  because  they  lead  to  dependence 
upon  measurement  instead  of  upon  the  unaided  eye. 

A  knowledge  of  free-hand  drawing  is  essential  to  facil- 
ity in  lettering  because  the  eye  is  then  trained  to  see 
form  and  to  judge  of  effects;  moreover,  lettering  to  be 
skillfully  done  should  be  treated  much  as  a  free-hand 
drawing  is  treated,  that  is,  the  more  finished  kind, 
by  a  step-by-step  process  which  deals  first  with  the 
broad  simple  effect  and  proceeds  to  the  details  gradually 
in  the  order  of  their  importance.  To  use  a  concrete 
and  extremely  simple  illustration:  The  development  of 
a  letter  should  proceed  in  a  method  similar  to  that  in 
which  we  should  draw  a  straight  line  between  two 
given  points;  the  first  thing  to  do  is  to  get  a  sense  of 
direction  between  the  points  by  passing  the  hand  to 
and  fro  and  indicating  it  by  a  few  tentative  strokes  here 


4  FREE-HAND  LETTERING. 

and  there;  these  can  be  added  to  by  others,  connecting 
them,  the  whole  being  not  a  line  but  a  series  of  more 
or  less  connected  and  overlapping  marks  giving  general 
direction ;  this  can  be  refined  b}*  repeating  the  process, 
working  in  a  more  and  more  restricted  area  until  the 
line  assumes  as  much  exactness  as  desired  or  that  the 
draftsman  is  capable  of  attaining.  The  treatment  of 
the  line  is  typical  of  the  process  in  any  free-hand  draw- 
ing no  matter  how  comphcated;  the  motive  comes  first 
and  the  details  afterwards.  An  isolated  letter  should  be 
drawn  in  this  way;  in  the  same  way  a  word  or  Hne  of 
words,  or  a  combination  of  lines  and  styles. 

2.  Illustrative  Example. 

Let  it  be  required  to  draw  a  few  large  isolated  letters  of 
the  Gothic  stj^le  shown  on  Plate  II.  Fig.  i  illustrates  the 
step-b\'-step  process  of  developing  the  letters.  They 
are  to  be  taken  singly.  The  several  stages,  moreover, 
from  a  to  ^  must  be  considered  as  purely  arbitrar}'; 
whether  the  letters  are  carried  through  these  or  a  greater 
or  less  number  of  stages  wiU  depend  upon  the  judgment 
or  the  skill  of  the  draftsman.  The  chief  thing  to  note 
is  that  the  development  in  each  case  is  so  handled  that 
but  one  phase  of  it  is  treated  at  a  time,  the  largest  feature 
first  and  the  smallest  details  last.  The  first  and  most 
important  feature  is  proportion;  this  is  indicated  in 
a;  a  suggestion  only  of  the  form  is  next  given  in  h, 
as  well  as  a  refinement  of  the  proportions  showing 
more  definitely  the  Tna-yimnm  spaces  the  letters  occupy. 


CONSTRUCTION  OF  ROMAN  AND   GOTHIC  LETTERS.  5 

FLq.  I. 

f-TT — ^ii —  I  r    "T- 

I 

J_    _LL...  II  _  IL      J_ 


I 


b 

1   ' 


L   J.L. 


C 


iL.. 


ii-  ji 


d 


r    7-- 


lPJ 


')\ 


f 


u 


Y 


g 


HBCK 


O  FREE-HAND  LETTERING. 

A  more  complete  shape  to  each  letter  is  given  at  c\ 
after  this  at  d  a  suggestion  of  the  weight  of  body 
is  added.  Uniform  weight  is  insured  by  paying  atten- 
tion to  scaling  the  thickness  only  in  scattered  places. 
In  e  the  letter  shows  further  refinement  of  form 
and  weight,  while  we  have  the  final  careful  outline 
in/. 

The  line  g  is  introduced  to  show  incidentally  how 
the  hea^-A^  body  of  the  letter  ma\'  be  put  in  in  ink,  itself 
shown  in  three  stages.  First  a  strong  wall  of  ink  is  put 
aroimd  the  inside  of  the  outline,  then  if  the  letter  has  a 
ver\'  hea\w  body,  intermediate  strokes  may  be  intro- 
duced as  in  the  B.  This  development  is  analogous  to 
the  method  used  in  any  free-hand  drawing. 

If  the  Roman  letter  form  were  the  subject  of  such  an 
exercise  it  would  be  perfectly  feasible  to  earn-  it  through 
the  first  three  stages  a,  b,  and  c,  in  the  same  treatment 
as  employed  for  the  Gothic  letter;  a  stage  analogous 
to  d  might  begin  to  indicate  the  characteristic  style 
of  the  letter,  and  the  remaining  stages  to  the  development 
of  it. 

The  advantage  of  this  comprehensive  treatment  of 
the  drawing,  as  it  may  be  called,  is,  as  briefly  stated 
above,  that  the  essential  facts  are  treated  first  and  as 
each  new  feature  is  taken  up  it  allows  the  draftsman 
to  see  and  correct  his  errors  as  they  develop. 

The  only  place  for  mechanical  treatment  in  ordinary' 
lettering  is  in  making  the  Hmiting  lines;  even  the  skill  - 
ful  draftsman  will  do  tliis  except  in  very  small  work; 


CONSTRUCTION  OF  ROMAN  AND   GOTHIC  LETTERS.         7 

certainly  the  beginner  should  never  fail  to  rule  at  least 
two,  if  not  more,  limiting  lines  for  all  letters. 

3.  Brief  History  of  the  Roman  and  Gothic  Letters. 

The  uninitiated  are  apt  to  think  that  type  as  we  have 
it  now  from  the  foundry  in  the  simple  pure  Roman  and 
Gothic  styles  is  a  fixed  letter  having  some  authoritative 
claim  to  being  standard.  It  represents,  however,  only 
a  stage  in  the  growth  of  forms  more  or  less  variable,  and 
some  intelligent  understanding  of  the  reasons  for  this 
will  help  the  student  in  arriving  at  a  proper  attitude 
towards  lettering  in  general. 

It  is  generally  believed,  although  it  cannot  be  proved, 
that  the  alphabet  is  of  hieroglyphic  and  Egyptain  origin; 
the  oldest  manuscripts  left  to  us  come  from  Egypt  and 
date  back  many  centuries  B.C.  The  hieroglyphic  char- 
acters express  ideas,  later  such  characters  become  sym- 
bols of  single  soimds,  and  it  is  from  these  we  get  the 
alphabet  and  letter  forms. 

In  the  earliest  four  or  five  centuries  of  the  Christian 
era  there  were  two  distinct  hands  visible  in  the  manu- 
scripts, one  the  majuscule,  analogous  to  our  capitals, 
and  the  other  the  cursive  or  nmning  hand.  Throughout 
the  centuries  these  hands  reacted  upon  one  another, 
each  becoming  modified  through  the  influence  of  the 
other,  and  later  they  formed  the  basis  for  type.  Of 
course  the  invention  of  printing  soon  put  an  end  to  the 
systematic  work  of  scribes,  although  such  writing  still 
survived  for  a  long  time  for  choice  works.      The    first 


8  FREE-HAND  LETTERING. 

printed  books  appeared  about  1450  a.d.  and  were  made 
in  Germany;  imitating  as  they  did  the  hand  of  the 
scribes  of  the  fifteenth  century  in  that  countr}-,  they 
naturally  partook  of  the  hea\^  black-faced  letters  then 
prevalent.  The  early  Roman  types  vrere  in  imitation 
of  the  CaroliQe  minuscule,  prevalent  about  the  ninth 
to  the  eleventh  century,  and  which  from  that  on  became 
universal  ia  Latia  Christendom. 

In  the  early  Roman  we  also  see  distinct  evidences,  in 
the  thick  and  thin  lines,  of  the  imitation  of  the  strokes 
of  the  quill  used  b}'  the  early  scribes — ^the  reed  was  not  in 
use  in  Western  Europe  later  than  the  early  part  of  the 
sixth  centun",  when  it  gave  place  to  the  quill.  The 
stiff-nibbed  qmll  used  b}^  these  early  scribes  was  held 
nearly  perpendicularly  to  the  paper,  but  iacHned  to 
the  Hne  of  the  writing.  The  down  strokes  were  made 
heavy,  including  the  inclined  ones  in  the  M,  W,  X,  etc. 
The  letters  are  characteristically  square,  and  although 
the  present  letters  vary  somewhat  from  the  original, 
their  skeleton  is  siiU  hosed  upon  iJie  square  form.  The 
Gothic,  imHke  the  Roman,  never  reached  an  authori- 
tative form;  ever\'  letter  has  a  variety  of  shapes,  any 
one  allowable  so  long  as  it  expresses  the  characteristics  of 
the  style,  which  is  mainly  that  of  a  uniform  body  letter. 

It  is  interestiog  to  note,  in  this  connection,  that  hand- 
writing, although  the  parent  of  the  first  t}"pe  forms,  was 
forsaken  by  its  offspring,  which  grew  independent^  and 
steadily  in  the  effort  to  arrive  at  a  fixed  legible  form; 
handwriting,  on  the   other  hand,  shows  varied  phases   of 


CONSTRUCTION  OF  ROMyiN  AND  GOTHIC  LETTERS.         9 

growth  and  decay;    forms  were  gradually  developed  and 
a  "  universal  hand  of  the  day"  was  evolved ;  then,  through 
various    causes,    decay    took    place,    writing   becoming 
more  illegible  until,  through  a  reform  movement,  type 
forms  are  imitated.     We  can  note  this  to-day  in  the 
upright  and  roimd  handwriting  succeeding  Spencerian. 
Small  letters  were  not  in  evidence  in  the  early  manu- 
scripts ;   they  came  in  gradually  and  long  after  the  capital 
forms,  becoming  fixed,  however,  by  the  ninth  century. 
The  broad  capital  letter,  known  as  the  Rustic,  prevailed 
in  the  manuscripts  of  the  fourth  and  fifth  centuries; 
the  miniscule  only  became  general  by  the  ninth.     This 
was  developed  in  its  most  perfect  form  by  the  master 
printers  of  Venice,  and  it  is  to  this  period  of  the  Renais- 
sance in  Italy  that  we  turn  for  the  best  examples  of 
these  forms.     The  scholars  and  printers  of  this  period 
took  as  their  models  the  pure  Caroline  forms  of  the  old 
manuscripts,  and  the  Roman  letters  used  by  them  have 
not  varied  appreciably  since. 

Thus  we  see  that  letters  have  gone  through  stages 
of  evolution  like  other  forms,  and  to-day  we  have  letters 
which,  while  more  or  less  apparently  rigid,  are  yet 
capable  of  a  certain  variety  under  the  fancy  of  the 
designer,  who  is  free  to  devise  new  forms  as  he  was  in 
earlier  days ;  this  is  in  fact  being  constantly  done. 

4.  The  Roman  Letter. 

The  alphabet  most  familiar  to-day  is  the  Roman,  but 
for  the  draftsman,  partly  because  it  is  so  familiar  to 


lo  FREE-H^KD  LETTERING. 

even"  one  and  therefore  calls  for  a  higher  degree  of 
accurac}',  it  is  the  most  difficult  to  execute  acceptably, 
and  hence  is  Httle  used  by  an}^  but  the  most  expert; 
were  it  not  so  difficult  it  wotild  undoubtedly  be  used 
more.  The  Gothic  is  much  simpler  and  is  used  most 
commonly  by  the  rank  and  file  of  draftsmen;  however, 
it  is  essential  to  an  adequate  knowledge  of  lettering  that 
the  Roman  be  understood,  therefore  we  wiU  investigate 
it  first. 

Plate  I  shows  the  alphabet  of  capitals,  called  b\^  the 
printer  upper  case  because  these  characters  He  in  the 
upper  and  less  accessible  part  of  the  type-case  as  it 
stands  inclined  in  front  of  him.  Plate  III  shows  the 
smaU  letters  of  this  stjde  and  the  numerals ;  the  first  are 
called  lower  case  because  in  t\"pe  they  lie  nearest  the 
printer's  hand  in  the  lower  part  of  the  tj^pe-case,  since 
they  are  more  frequently  used.  The  small  letters  are 
scaled  to  go  with  the  capitals,  but  the  numerals,  for 
convenience,  are  drav^-n  to  a  different  scale. 

On  Plate  I  the  letters  vary  in  size,  both  as  to  width 
and  in  a  few  cases  as  to  height,  in  order  to  conve}'  an 
impression  of  uniformity'.  The  letter  which  ma}'  be 
taken  as  a  sta^uiard  of  referetice,  and  called  of  normal  size 
for  convenience,  is  the  H;  it  occupies  the  full  rectangle 
of  space  allotted  to  it. 

The  proportion  of  the  letters  in  these  first  two  alpha- 
bets is  that  in  common  use,  and  this,  for  want  of  a  better 
distinguishing  term,  we  will  call  standard.  The  height 
of  the  letters  is,  for  convenience,  divided  into  six  equal 


CONSTRUCTION  OF  ROMAN  AND  GOTHIC  LETTERS.       n 

parts,  and  the  widths  are  scaled  and  designated  by  units 
of  the  value  of  one  of  these  divisions ;  for  example,  the 
H  is  five  units  wide  and  six  units  high.  However,  it 
must  be  understood  that  the  letters  have  no  fixed  propor- 
tion ;  this  is  to  be  particularly  noticed  in  the  artist's  free 
designed  alphabets  (see  Plate  XXI).  The  letters  may 
take  an  infinite  variety  of  shapes,  weight  of  body,  etc., 
within  certain  not  easily  defined  limits.  The  term  stand- 
ard proportions  is  purely  an  arbitrary  term,  chosen  for 
convenience,  and  is  applied  to  our  present  type-letter. 
Some  style  of  letter  should  have  careful  analysis  by  the 
student,  and  this  is  chosen  for  the  purpose. 

5.  Variations  in  the  Different  Letters. 

The  letters  will  vary  in  width  because  those  which 
do  not  fill  their  rectangle  of  space,  as  the  H  does,  would 
look  smaller  in  size  than  the  H  if  made  of  the  same 
width;  to  preserve  uniformity  of  effect  they  must  be 
made  sHghtly  wider  than  the  normal  letter.  For  ex- 
ample, the  letter  A  must  be  spread  out  at  the  base 
because  it  only  occupies  half  of  the  rectangle  of  space 
allotted  to  it;  Hkewise  the  B,  C,  D,  etc.,  must  be  widened 
somewhat,  each  to  a  different  degree.  The  0  and  Q 
are  widened  most  because  they  only  touch  by  tangency 
the  rectangular  limits. 

The  letters  will  vary  in  height,  because  where  a  letter 
touches  its  upper  and  lower  limits  only  by  tangency  it 
would  look  shorter  than  the  H  if  it  actually  were  made 
tangent  to  them;    it  must  be  made  sHghtly  taller,  in 


12  FREE-HASD  LETTS  RISC. 

fact  must  exceei  ': ::'::  -''rr  and  lower  limiting  lines; 
among  these  we  have  :::f  C,  G.  2.r.i  O.  Letters  such  as 
A  and  V,  etc.,  would  aUc  have  ro  exceed  the  limits  if 
their  angles  are  made  sharp;  to  overcome  this  they  are, 
in  the  plate,  shown  somewhat  blunted;  this  practice 
is  not  tmiversal,  however. 

The  exceptions  to  the  above  are  the  L  and  the  F, 
which  are  made  narrower  than  :i:~r.i.  riia^Mse  of  their 
shape,  having  in  each  case  a  vemcal  si=r:i  ana  cne  hori- 
zontal member.  To  make  them  really  of  normal  width 
in  a  line  of  lettering  causes  them  to  seem  to  be  spread 
out  too  much,  so  they  are  actually  narrowed  some~ha:. 
the  I  n-.:5t,  :e  cause  it  h?  :. :  horizontal  mem'iier  hi  the 
micale  t:   :.iz  hh  u^   :hr  ^^ice  as  has  the  F. 

The  leners  are  further  modified  to  produce  an  efiect 
of  stabilirv;  that  is.  these  letters  which  hc-ve  distinct 
upoer  and  lower  parts  wiQ  appear  more  stable  and  of 
good  form  if  the  lower  seetiir.  is  ".--ie  larger  than  the 
upper;  for  exairrie.  the  '. :~er  i:'  e  ::  the  B  the  two 
lower  arms  of  the  X.  the  i  v^  er  ir  :  the  K  :.  r  i  -.er 
horizonta!  strthe  ::  the  E  :cl  :ar  Z,  the  i  rr  curve 
of  the  S  -  :uur  c  cr  ss  and  higher  than  the  upper. 

K  dihicuitv  is  ertte-eacei  ir.  ch  i.cr  the  force  of  these 
vtric-ticas,  drawing  out  a  :e~.  in  :  c  :e  ignoring  and 
i:c  -c  citer  talcing  account  :c  them,  wiii  doubuess  ser^.-e 
t:  nu^ke  the  defects  apparent. 

The  leners  vaiy  in  their  several  variations;  that  is, 
when  combined  together  to  fomt  -crds  it  wDl  be  fotmd 
that  slight  modifications  in  size  can  be  introduced  here 


CONSTRUCTION   OF  ROM/4N  AND   GOTHIC  LETTERS.       13 

and  there  to  advantage;  for  example,  an  L  just  pre- 
ceding an  A  can  be  made  narrower  than  if  it  were  fol- 
lowed by  an  H  or  were  itself  at  the  end  of  a  line  or  a 
word. 

The  amoimts  of  the  several  variations  of  letters, 
as  they  are  recorded  on  the  plate,  should  not  be  regarded 
by  the  student  as  having  any  significance  further  than 
to  call  attention  to  their  existence  relatively  and  to  aid 
in  forming  a  correct  perception  of  variations.  They 
should  not  be  considered  as  measurable  quantities; 
different  proportions  of  letters  would  call  for  variations 
in  the  degree  of  these  variations.  In  practice  the  eye 
should  be  cultivated  to  estimate  the  amount  of  variation 
necessary;  indeed  this  will  be  found  indispensable  in 
practice,  where  the  small  size  of  the  lettering  often  done 
will  preclude  any  calculation  and  where  time  may  also 
be  an  important  factor.  To  burden  the  mind  with 
figuring  out  variations  will  result  in  spoiling  the  spon- 
taneity of  design.  In  the  very  small  lettering  which  is 
quite  common,  say  letters  of  a  height  of  an  eighth  of  an 
inch  up  to  three  eighths,  the  variations,  although  necessary 
in  a  small  degree,  are  entirely  incommensurable. 

6.  The  Roman  Letter  is  not  a  Fixed  Type. 

The  Roman  alphabet  is  not  a  fixed  type  in  which 
exact  proportioning  of  parts  is  attainable.  The  ancestors 
of  this  letter  had  a  very  different  form  from  that  which 
we  now  find  in  the  printer's  type  or  in  modem  good 
examples.     They  have  been  modified  and  changed  by 


14  FREE-HAND  LETTERING. 

different  authorities.  We  cannot  point  to  any  one  illus- 
tration of  a  perfectly  correct  Roman  type,  but  to  many, 
varjing  slightly  in  some  cases,  quite  radically  in  others. 
Prof.  Jacoby  says:*  "  The  modem  form  is  the  result  of 
modifications  mainly  introduced  in  the  eighteenth  cen- 
Tir-r  Iv  5:n:e  English  type-founders." 

V:,~:::::.;  :,rr  rvident  in  the  widths  of  letters,  the 
size  ::.  1  ;':-  f  ::  :  r  serifs,  in  the  relation  between  the 
1:^-.:  ::-i  llei^y  strokes,  together  with  some  changes 
i;:  :: ::-i;-jLiar  letters,  the  length  of  the  middle  bar  of  the 
E  i::i  F,  :'::e  shape  of  the  lower  jaw  of  the  G,  the  inclina- 
tion  c:  : he  '.ers  ::  the  K,  sharpness  of  the  points  of  the  A, 
V.  M.  etc. ;  ever,  such  a  radical  change  is  attempted 
as  r:i-^--;i:-.r  t/.e  0  frrms  not  true  ellipses,  but  ovals  with 
the  wihest  part  shghtly  above  the  middle  of  the  letter. 

7.  Further  Analysis  of  the  Roman  Letters. 

The  hea\y  stems  of  the  letters  are  made  a  normal 
width  of  one  unit.  If  the  bod}^  varies  in  thickness,  as 
in  the  B.  C.  G,  etc.,  the  maximum  width  at  the  middle 
is  shzht'y  r-e?,Ter  than  one  unit;  if  it  were  made  exactly 
cne  it  ~  u-i.  ;ok  narrower,  because  this  width  is  not 
mahttained  throughout  the  body,  but  only  at  one  point. 

The  S  and  the  U  are  exceptions,  for  in  these  the  cur\^ed 
bodies  pass  into  straight  portions  for  a  distance  great 
enough  to  rr.air.t.tin  the  effect  of  uniform  weight  with 
the  rest  of  the  letters. 

♦  "Plain   Lettermg,"    by   Prof.    Hc-r>-  S.  Jacoby;    pub.   by  the 
Ensiineering  News  Pub.  Co. 


CONSTRUCTION  OF  ROMAN  AND   GOTHIC  LETTERS.        15 

The  serifs  are  made  three-quarters  of  a  unit  wide  and 
of  a  thickness  of  the  light  stems;  they  are  joined  to  the 
vertical  stems  by  a  tangent  curve,  the  quadrant  of  a 
circle  of  half  a  unit  radius ;  where  the  serifs  join  oblique 
stems  these  arcs  become  elongated,  still  however,  being 
tangent  to  the  serif  and  to  the  stem.  The  serifs  can  be 
varied,  to  a  degree,  in  their  width,  and  their  relation  to 
the  width  of  the  heavy  body  also  changed,  to  suit  the 
fancy  of  the  designer. 

It  is  interesting  to  note  that  if  the  form  of  the  curve 
connecting  the  serif  to  the  stem  is  elongated  vertically 
to  be  tangent  to  the  middle  of  the  height  of  the  stems, 
we  have  a  very  different  letter  from  the  Roman,  but  one 
which  is  quite  a  common  form  of  ornamental  letter 
(see  Fig.   9). 

The  serifs  are  here  made  of  the  same  width  at  the  top 
and  at  the  bottom,  but  in  the  case  of  large  letters  it  will 
conform  to  good  design  to  make  the  upper  serifs  narrower, 
by  a  very  small  amount,  than  the  lower  ones. 

The  large  spurs  on  the  E,  F,  L,  T,  and  Z  do  not  join 
the  body  of  the  letter  like  the  serifs,  by  tangent  curves; 
the  -uniting  curves  meet  the  horizontal  strokes  abruptly. 
If  the  letters  were  to  be  very  much  widened,  the  spurs 
would  look  better  if  made  to  approach  them  by  tangency. 

The  mid-horizontal  strokes  of  the  B,  E,  F,  H,  and  R 
are  put  slightly  above  the  center  of  the  space;  if  they 
were  put  at  the  exact  center,  the  effect  made  upon  the 
observer  would  be  that  they  were  below.  Try  it  with  a 
few  letters  constructed  both  ways.     The  P  is  an  excep- 


1 6  FREE-HAND  LETTERING. 

tion  to  this,  for  otherwise  its  upper  part  would  look 
dwarfed. 

To  preserv^e  an  effect  of  stability,  the  lower  part  of 
the  B,  E,  K,  and  R  extend  slightly  farther  to  the  right 
than  the  upper  part;  for  similar  reasons  the  legs  of  the 
X  cross  above  the  center  of  the  space,  and  the  lower 
cur\'e  of  the  S  is  made  larger  than  the  upper.  Turn 
the  plate  upside  down  and  note  the  amount  of  these 
differences. 

The  inner  and  the  outer  edge  of  the  curved  part  of 
letters,  as  B,  C,  0,  P,  and  the  upper  part  of  the  R,  are 
formed  by  arcs  of  regular  closed  curves  wdth  vertical 
and  horizontal  axes;  the  inner  ones  approach  the  outer 
tangentially.  If  the  letters  were  proportioned  very  wide 
they  might  meet  them  abruptly,  but  the  form  shown 
on  the  plate  is  the  one  most  common ;  on  the  plate,  also, 
the  vertical  axes  of  the  outer  curves  are  slightly  larger 
than  their  horizontal  ones  except  the  U.  Note  that 
in  the  case  of  the  C,  G,  0,  Q,  etc.,  the  inner  curv^es  are 
tangent  to  the  outer  slightly  to  the  right  and  left  of  the 
vertical  axes  of  the  latter. 

The  curv^ed  forms  are  apt  to  give  the  most  trouble  in 
drawing,  but  much  of  the  usual  difficulty  may  be  avoided 
by  following  a  sketch  method,  previously  outlined,  for 
their  development.  A  very  brief  indication  of  form 
should  receive  first  attention,  with  chief  emphasis  upon 
symmetry  and  without  necessarily  a  careful  clean  line; 
next,  a  more  complete  suggestion  of  form  may  be  given 
by  connecting  up   the  sketch-strokes  into  a  somewhat 


CONSTRUCTION  OF  ROMAN  AND   GOTHIC  LETTERS.        l^ 

continuous  curve,  and  so  by  degrees,  following  the  same 
step-by-step  process,  filling  in  between  the  disconnected 
strokes  and  refining  the  symmetry  and  balance  of  the 
form,  the  careful  clean  line  of  the  finished  curve  maybe 
developed  substantially  as  lines  are  developed  in  a  free- 
hand drawing. 

The  R  and  S  need  some  especial  comment.  The 
general  tendency  of  the  tail  of  the  R  should  be  outward 
towards  the  foot  of  the  letter  as  opposed  to  vertical; 
perhaps  a  safe  guide  in  drawing  it,  whatever  the  pro- 
portions of  letter  adopted,  would  be  to  see  first  that  a 
tangent  to  the  outer  curve  at  its  point  of  changing 
curvature  is  very  slightly  inclined  from  the  vertical,  and 
then  to  make  the  inner  curve  harmonize  with  the 
outer. 

The  compound  curve  which  comprises  the  S  is  apt  to 
give  trouble,  but  this  may  be  somewhat  lessened  by 
using  an  0  of  the  same  proportions  as  a  basis  in  sketch- 
ing; however  the  upper  and  lower  parts  of  the  curve 
of  the  S  are  not  duplicates  of  the  corresponding  parts 
of  the  0;  they  are  flatter  and  the  necessary  modifica- 
tions must  be  introduced  in  finishing.  If  a  single-stroke 
letter  is  needed  as  a  basis,  note  that  the  point  of  chang- 
ing curvature  is  in  the  center  laterally,  but  slightly  above 
the  center  vertically.  The  inclination  of  a  tangent  which 
might  be  drawn  at  this  point  would  depend  entirely 
upon  the  proportions  of  the  letter  dealt  with ;  it  would 
approach  a  horizontal  position  as  the  letter  is  widened, 
but  it  should  not  reach  the  horizontal  in  any  case,  or 


1 8  FREEH /IN  D  LETTERING. 

much   less  be  inclined   downward   towards  the  left,   a 
common  fault  that  may  be  frequently  seen. 

8.  Analysis  of  the  Small  Letters. 

On  Plate  III  are  the  small  letters  drawn  to  harmonize 
with  the  capitals.  The  small  letters  may  be  divided 
into  three  classes:  ascending,  descending,  and  short 
letters.  The  ascending,  except  the  t,  have  a  height 
equal  to  the  capitals,  and  the  descending  are  the 
same  in  total  length.  The  height  of  the  short  letters 
relative  to  the  others  is  not  fixed;  authorities  differ 
as  to  the  best  proportions,  but  they  usually  var}'  between 
about  one-half  and  two-thirds  the  height  of  the  capitals. 
Prof.  Jacoby  recommends  six-tenths,  a  quantity  ap- 
proximating the  value  obtained  by  using  the  'golden 
cut,'  which  he  describes  fully  in  his  book  on  "Plain 
Lettering."  In  large  lettering  the  designer  should  let 
proportion,  weight  of  body,  requisite  prominence,  etc., 
be  the  deciding  factors  in  settHng  upon  this  ratio.  Those 
on  the  plate  are  made  six-tenths  of  the  height  of  the 
capitals. 

The  width  and  height  of  the  small  letters  are  related 
to  each  other  in  the  same  manner  as  the  corresponding 
dimensions  of  the  capitals.  The  height  of  the  short 
letters  is  divided  into  six  equal  parts,  and  one  of  these 
is  used  as  a  unit  both  for  width  and  weight  of 
body.  A  u,  n,  or  lower  part  of  the  h  is  taken  as  a 
standard  letter,  and  the  others  are  made  to  conform 
to  it.     The   same  peculiarities  as  to   variations   which 


CONSTRUCTION  OF  ROMAN  AND   GOTHIC  LETTERS.       19 

occur  in  the  capitals  occur  also  in  the  small 
letters. 

Two  forms  of  a  are  shown ;  the  first  may  be  con- 
sidered the  standard  form. 

The  g  is  a  letter  which  will  probably  afford  consider- 
able difficulty  in  construction;  if  treated  in  a  manner 
analogous  to  that  suggested  for  the  capital  S,  the 
difficulty  will  be  lessened;  that  is,  construct  the  upper 
and  lower  regular  closed  curves  first  and  separately  and 
then  connect  them  by  the  small  curve  which  is  tangent 
to  the  lower  but  not  to  the  upper  oval. 

The  0,  s,  V,  w,  X,  and  z  are  miniatures  of  their 
respective   capitals   in   every  respect. 

9.  The  Roman  Numerals. 

The  Roman  numerals  are  shown  at  the  bottom  of 
Plate  III.  They  are  made  shorter  and  narrower,  for 
want  of  space,  than  they  should  be  to  harmonize  with 
the  capitals  on  Plate  I.  Their  width  is  lessened  by  taking 
as  a  unit  one-sixth  of  the  height  of  the  short  letters 
instead  of  one-sixth  of  the  height  of  the  capitals,  which 
would  be  the  proper  procedure  in  practice.  General 
custom  seems  to  call  for  a  numeral  the  height  of  the 
capitals,  but  slightly  narrower ;  some  consider  that  they 
should  be  shorter  than  the  capitals,  let  us  say  by  about 
one  imit,  where  capitals  and  small  letters  are  together 
used.  There  is  good  ground  for  this  contention,  for  by 
contrast  with  the  small  letters  the  numerals  are  apt  to 
appear  too  large  if  they  are  made  as  tall  as  the  capitals. 


20  FREE-H/iSD  LETTERING. 

Some  lines  of  letters  illustrating  this  point  are  shown 
on  Plate  VI. 

The  numerals  have  the  same  peculiarities  as  to  varia- 
tions in  width,  height,  and  weight  of  body  that  the 
letters  do.  It  is  weU  to  draw  the  round  forms  by  sketch- 
ing an  ellipse  or  0  as  a  basis  the  same  as  for  the  S. 

An  alternative  form  for  the  base  of  the  2  and  one 
for  the  top  of  the  5  are  suggested  below  and  above 
the  respective  figures.  Of  the  two  forms  of  3  shown,  the 
first  is  the  standard,  although  it  is  more  difficult  of  con- 
struction. 

The  skeleton  of  the  3  consists  of  two  regular  ovals 
tangent  to  each  other  a  little  above  the  middle  of  the 
figure  and  having  vertical  and  horizontal  axes. 

The  8  is  also  based  on  the  same  construction. 

The  6  and  9  are  duplicates  of  one  another  reversed  in 
position.  The  inside  cur\-e  in  each  of  the  cur\-ed  forms 
is  also,  like  the  cur\'es  in  the  capitals,  a  regular  oval  of 
different  proportions  from  the  outer  one,  but  having  the 
same  axes. 

10.  Proportions  of  the  Roman  Letters  Vary. 

Proportions  of  any  letters,  whether  Roman  or  not, 
can  of  course  vary  according  to  the  lettering  to  be  done 
in  any  given  space.  The  normal  width  of  the  letters  on 
the  plate  is  5  and  the  height  6 ;  desirable  proportions  for 
common  use  would  lie  between  this  ratio  and  the  ratio 
of  4  to  6. 

With  a  variation  of  width,  the  weight  of  stem  may 


CONSTRUCTION  OF  ROMAN  AND  GOTHIC  LETTERS.       21 

vary  independently;   the  latter,  for  equal  legibility,  will 
vary  less  than  the  former. 

The  lighter  stems  if  increased  up  to  a  certain  point 
of  thickness,   relative  to  the  heavy  stems,   change  the 
.character  of  the  letter,  and  omitting  the  serifs  we  have 
what  is  known  as  a  Roman-Gothic  form  (see  Plate  XXII). 

ng.2, 

•HABCK 
HABCK 
HABCK 
-HABCK 

HAB  ck: 

The  effect  of  changing  the  widths  of  the  Roman  letters, 
and  also  the  weight  of  body,  is  shown  in  Fig.  2.  All  of 
the  letters  are  of  the  same  height;  line  a,  c,  and  e  are 
each  of  different  widths  of  letter  with  a  proportionate 
increase  of  thickness  of  heavy  stem;  lines  b,  d,  and  f 
show  the  same  width  of  letters  as  the  preceding  lines 


2  2  FREE-HAND  LETTERJSG. 

respectively,  but  have  a  body  one  and  one-half  times  as 
hea\y. 

The  letters  in  hne  c  are  like  those  shown  on  Plate  I. 

The  limits  either  way  of  narrowing  or  widening  are 
simply  those  controlling  legibility. 

11.  The  Gothic  Letter. 

Plates  I  and  III  show  the  Gothic  capitals  and  small 
letters;  the\''  are  much  easier  to  make  than  the  Roman 
and  are  a  ver}-  common  form  in  practical  lettering  both 
as  a  hea\^7  body  and  as  a  single-stroke  letter;  the  student 
should  give  the  preference  to  it  and  stud}^  it  carefully. 

The  proportions  shown  are  the  same  as  those  in  the 
Roman  letter  except  that  the  weight  of  the  stem  is 
reduced  to  three-quarters  of  a  unit  on  accoimt  of  its 
uniform  thickness.  It  is  to  be  obserx^ed  that  weight 
of  stem,  as  influencing  variations  in  width,  is  here  illus- 
trated. The  light  stroke  on  the  outside  of  some  of  the 
Roman  letters  causes  a  different  effect  in  the  total 
width  of  letters  from  what  it  would  were  it  heav}^.  In 
the  Gothic  alphabet,  for  this  reason,  the  A,  N.  R,  U.  V, 
W.  X.  anl  Y  are  made  wider  at  the  base  than  the  corre- 
sponding Roman  letters. 

12.  Analysis  of  the  Gothic  Capitals. 

This  is  an  alphabet  of  uniform  thickness  of  body. 
The  ends  of  the  members  of  the  letters,  when  hea\y 
bodies  are  used,  are  cut  off  perpendicular^.  The  C,  J, 
S,  etc.,  are  frequently  ended  by  horizontal  limits,  but  it 
is  not  good  standard  construction. 


CONSTRUCTION  OF  ROM/iN  AND   GOTHIC  LETTERS.       23 

An  alphabet  similar  to  this  one  is  often  used,  namely, 
the  block  letter,  consisting  entirely  of  straight  lines;  the 
curved  forms  are  turned  into  rectangles  with  the  comers 
cut  at  angles  of  45°.  At  best,  however,  it  is  an  awkward 
and  mechanical  letter,  a  poor  substitute  for  the  Gothic. 
It  were  better  to  substitute  a  free  offhand  letter  such 
as  is  described  in  Chapter  III  for  the  Gothic,  if  the 
latter  in  its  curved  forms  is  found  to  be  too  difficult. 

The  construction  of  the  Gothic  letters  parallels  the 
Roman  in  all  but  a  few  particulars. 

Note  that  the  upper  angles  of  the  M  and  N  are  as 
wide  across  as  the  body  of  the  letter.  The  lower  angle 
of  the  N  is  also  as  wide  as  the  stem,  but  that  of  the 
M,  V,  and  W  is  cut  off,  so  as  to  make  a  sharp  limit  to 
the  forms,  a  broader  base  relatively  than  the  Roman, 
letters  have.  The  V  is  like  the  A  reversed  and  has  the 
same  sharpness  of  apex ;  the  upper  vertex  of  the  angle  of 
the  W  is  slightly  sharper  than  the  two  lower  ones. 

The  tail  of  the  R  is  different  in  curvature  from  that 
of  the  Roman,  coming  as  it  does  squarely  to  the  limit- 
ing hne.  Several  different  forms  of  this  are  also  to  be 
found ;  one  curves  tangent  to  the  limiting  line,  ending  in 
a  vertical  edge  at  the  point  of  tangency,  or  an  inclined 
edge  slightly  beyond  it,  and  another  form  is  straight  at 
the  lower  part,  with  only  one  short  curve  where  it  joins 
the  upper  part. 

13.  Analysis  of  the  Small  Letters  and  Numerals. 

The  small  letters  and  numerals  are  shown  on  Plate  III. 


24  FREE-HAND  LETTERING. 

The  same  fraction  of  the  width  of  the  normal  letter, 
n  or  h,  as  in  the  capitals,  is  taken  as  the  unit  of 
thickness  of  body;  the  proportions  are  otherwise  scaled 
as  in  the  Roman  small  letters.  No  special  comment  on 
the  forms  other  than  those  given  for  the  Roman  are 
necessary,  except  to  note  the  following:  In  letters  like 
a.  b.  d.  h,  etc.,  where  one  part  of  the  body  meets  another 
part  it  will  be  b}?^  entire  tangency  of  the  one  with  the 
other,  so  that  the  thickness  where  the  two  overlap  is 
equal  to  that  of  one  stem. 

The  numerals  have  the  same  general  form  as  the 
Roman,  and  on  the  plate  are  not  made  to  correspond 
with  the  capitals  for  the  same  reason  that  the  Roman 
numerals  were  made  smaller. 

There  is  another  form  of  2  which  is  m  common  use 
but  is  not  standard;  in  it  the  cur\'ed  upper  part  joins  the 
lower  by  an  incHned  straight  line  instead  of  by  a  com- 
poimd  cur\"e. 

14.  Italicized  Roman  and  Gothic  Letters. 

Plate  I\'  shows  the  Roman  and  Gothic  alphabets  when 
itahcized.  For  the  sake  of  variety  the  proportions  of 
the  capitals  are  changed  sHghtly,  being  narrowed; 
those  of  the  small  letters  remain  the  same.  The  numerals 
are  constructed  according  to  the  suggestion  contained 
in  section  9,  nameh^,  somewhat  shorter  than  the  capitals. 

Italicizing  a  letter  is  thought  by  some  to  render  slight 
faults  less  noticeable,  and  it  is  probably  the  truth  to 
some  extent,  because  we  are  not  as  familiar  with  these 


CONSTRUCTION  OF  ROMAN  AND   GOTHIC  LETTERS.       25 

combinations  of  direction  as  we  are  with  those  in  the 
vertical  letter. 

The  main  slant  of  the  letters  may  vary  between  certain 
limits  governed  in  part  by  legibihty;  that  shown  is  a 
fair  average.  The  bisectors  of  the  angles  of  letters 
having  inclined  sides  have  the  same  slant  as  the  mam 
stems  of  the  other  letters. 

The  slant  of  the  axes  of  the  curved  forms  differs  from 
this  slightly;  it  may  be  conceived  of  as  derived  from 
the  vertical  letter  by  puUing  out  at  the  opposite  comers 
the  circumscribing  rectangle  \intil  it  becomes  a  rhombus 
or  a  rhomboid;  the  curved  forms  like  0  and  C  will  be 
tangent  to  the  middle  of  the  sides  of  this  parallelogram. 
In  sketching  these  letters  free-hand,  it  is  a  very  essen- 
tial requisite  that  the  slants  should  be  uniform  in. all 
stems.  To  facilitate  this,  the  beginner  is  advised,  if  he 
finds  difficulty  in  estimating  it,  to  rule  Hght  parallel 
lines  at  random  throughout  the  hnes  of  letters  to  act  as 
guides  for  the  eye  in  arriving  at  the  proper  slant. 

If  a  Roman  upright  capital  and  italicized  capital  are 
to  be  treated  in  the  same  Hne,  then  for  equal  weight 
and  proportion  the  italicized  should  be  a  trifle  shorter 
than  the  upright. 

15.  Stump  Writing. 

Stimip  writing,  as  shown  on  Plate  V,  is  a  fonn  of  free 
inclined  letter  somewhat  similar  to  the  Roman  small 
letters;  it  is  well  adapted  to  offhand  lettering.  Its  chief 
difference  from  the  Roman  small  letter  lies  in  the  absence 


86  FREE-HAND  LETTERING. 

of  most  of  the  spurs  and  serifs  and  the  substitution  of 
cur\'es  for  the  horizontal  serifs  at  the  ends  of  letters; 
in  a  line  of  lettering  these  do  not  form  connection  with 
neighboring  letters,  however,  but  each  is  separated 
from  the  others  as  in  the  Roman  (see  Plate  VI).  It 
ser\'es  xevy  well  where  a  neat-appearing  letter  is  desired 
with  a  minimum  of  drawing.  The  proportions,  it  will 
be  noticed,  are  the  same  essentially  as  the  Roman  small 
letters,  the  chief  exception  being  where  the  finishing 
cur\^e  is  carried  beyond  the  normal  limit  of  the  letter, 
as  in  the  a,  d,  h,  1,  m,  etc. 

The  capitals  to  go  with  this  alphabet  are  the  Roman 
shown  on  Plate  I.  The  numerals  are  of  a  free  style 
and  can  be  used  appropriately  with  these  letters;  the 
regular  Roman  numerals  can,   of  course,  also  be  used. 

i6.  The  Proper  Ratio  of  Small  Letters  to  Capitals. 

In  section  8  mention  was  made  of  the  customary 
relation  between  the  sizes  of  small  letters  to  capitals. 
That  the  force  of  the  different  proportions  may  be 
appreciated  Plate  VI  is  added.  It  shows  the  Roman 
and  Gothic  letters  formed  into  words,  using  these  dif- 
ferent relations.  Line  i  illustrates  the  standard  or  0}ie 
to  six-tenths,  while  line  2  is  one  to  one-half.  Line  3 
illustrates  probably  a  more  practical  ratio  of  ta.v  to 
three. 

The  numerals  in  line  i  are  shown  the  standard  of 
height  equal  to  the  capitals,  while  in  the  remaining  lines 
they  are  shown  in  the  more  appropriate  relation  (where 


CONSTRUCTION  OF  ROMAN  AND  GOTHIC  LETTERS.       27 

small  letters  as  well  as  capitals  are  used),  which  is  about 
one  unit  shorter  than  the  capitals.  The  student  is  left 
to  study  the  plate  carefully  and  to  feel  the  force  of  the 
different  treatments. 


CHAPTER  II. 

SPACING. 

17.  Spacing  is  a  Problem  in  Design. 

Proper  spacing  is  exceeding^  important  and,  like 
proportions  of  letters,  is  best  obtained  by  the  unaided 
eye  rather  than  b}?"  adherence  to  a  system  or  mathe- 
matical scale.  Some  authorities  do  give  ratios  for 
proportioning  letters  and  rules  for  spacing.  These 
onl}^  approximate  to  truth  and  good  effect  and  cannot 
really  be  depended  upon  in  all  cases. 

18.  Spacing  Depends  upon  Several  Variables. 

It  is  a  common  fallacy  to  believe  that  the  clear  dis- 
tance between  letters  is  a  constant;  it  varies.  Proper 
spacing  of  letters  requires  variation  according  to  the 
different  combinations  of  letters,  the  weight  of  stems 
of  the  different  letters  combined,  and  to  some  extent 
upon  the  average  space  between  them.  To  be  specific, 
it  depends  upon  a  due  regard  to  the  following : 

(a)  Equivalence    of   area  in   spaces  bounded  by  the 

imaginar}^  upper  and  lower  limiting  lines  and  the  sides  of 

adjoining  letters;   these  areas  should  appear  equivalent 

in  aU  cases. 

28 


SPACING.  29 

Q))  The  clear  distance  between  letters,  which  exercises 
a  modifying  effect  upon  these  space  areas ;  the  fact,  for 
example,  that  the  V,  A,  and  W  spread  out  at  one  part 
more  than  another,  not  filling  their  full  rectangle  of  space. 

{c)  The  weight  of  the  exterior  lines  of  letters,  which 
also  has  a  modifying  effect  upon  these  space  areas.  If 
the  exterior  lines  are  light,  as  in  some  of  the  Roman  letters, 
for  example  the  N,  they  will  tend  to  magnify  the  space 
between  letters  over  what  it  seems  to  be  with  heavy 
adjoining  stems. 

{d)  The  average  space  between  letters,  which  makes 
irregularities  of  spacing  less  apparent  the  larger  it  is. 
On  geographical  maps  where  the  space  between  is  two 
or  three  times  the  width  of  the  normal  letter,  or  even 
greater,  sufficient  accuracy  in  spacing  is  attained  by 
making  the  distance  between  the  centers  of  letters  a 
constant,  except  perhaps  in  the  case  of  the  M  and  W. 

19.  Illustrative  Example. 

Let  the  rectangle  of  space  between  an  H  and  an  N 
be  taken  as  a  basis  of  comparison.  If  an  A  succeeds 
the  H  or  any  letter  which  recedes  from  its  rectangle  of 
clear  distance,  the  space  between  them  must  be  lessened 
accordingly;  the  amount  of  lessening  due  to  this  is 
governed  by  the  way  in  which  the  letter  recedes.  The 
L  and  T  are  exceptional  forms,  exposing  as  they  do 
different  spaces  between  themselves  and  other  letters 
from  those  in  any  other  combination.  It  is  quite  feasible, 
therefore,  to  cut  these  down  in  width  less  even  in  some 


30  FREE-HAND  LETTERING. 

cases  than  they  are  in  the  alphabets  on  Plates  I  and  II, 
where  they  precede  letters  whose  form  will  suggest  too 
large  an  intervening  space.  This  may  be  illustrated 
by  LT,  LV,  etc. 

HNAHQH 
PHTH^N 

>li|i  Jr^  i^  ^ejU  J  2^ 

ep.QRVA 

UNjy„Q  H 

Fig.  3  shows  a  few  lines  of  letters  taken  at  random 
to  illustrate  uniform  and  harmonious  spacing,  Xo  rules 
were  appHed  in  making  up  the  figiu^e,  only  the  judgment 
through  the  imaided  eye,  and  it  is  therefore  not  to  be 
supposed  that  it  cannot  be  improved  upon.  It  sho^7s 
vers"  nearly  aU  the  different  combinations  of  letters 
that  can  occur,  sufficient  at  least  to  be  representative. 
The  numerical  values,  scaled  after  the  letters  were 
drawn,  are  in  terms  of  the  same  unit  used  on  Plates  I 


SPACING.  31 

and  II,  namely,  one-sixth  of  the  height.  They  are 
meant  to  call  attention  to  differences  only.  Scaled  in 
millimeters,  the  space  values  are:  line  i,  6.4,  4.16,  4.16, 
4.16,  4.16  mms. ;  line  2,  4.16,  3.52,  3.52,  6.4,  5.12  mms. ; 
line  3,  3.85,  3.83,  4-i6,  .64  mms.;  line  4,  3.2,  3.51,  2.4, 
3,2,  4.16  mms. 

Let  us  look  at  the  areas  of  the  spaces  between  the 
letters   measured   only   approximately   in   square   milli- 
meters.    We  find  those  in  line  i  to  be  84,  105,  105,  75, 
75  sq.  mms.  respectively;   line  2,  75,  115,  115,  84,  86  sq. 
mms. ;  line  3,  77,  88,  75,  82,  91  sq.  mms. ;   line  4,  150,  108, 
143,  113,  68  sq.  mms.     The  average  area  is  96  sq.  mms., 
very  little  in  excess  of  the  unit,  or  84.     The  maximum 
difference  between  any  space   and  the  normal  unit   is 
66    sq.    mms.,  or  three-quarters   of   the   space   between 
H  and  N.     Excluding  the  L  and  T,  where  there  is  much 
space  left  outside   the  letter   form    the  maximum  dif- 
ference between  the  spaces  and  the  normal  unit  is  2 1  sq. 
mms.,  or  a  little  over  one-sixth  of  the  area  between  the 
H  and  N.     The  inference  to  be  drawn  from  this  is  that  it 
substantiates  the  claim  that  when  laid  out  with  a  view 
to  imiform  effect  the  spaces  are  nearly  uniform  in  area. 

Of  course  the  uniformity  is  less  in  evidence  the  nar- 
rower the  average  spacing,  because  the  spaces  left  un- 
occupied by  letters  count  for  more  in  the  space  areas. 
If  the  T  and  the  L  were  put  closer  to  their  neighbors, 
then,  independent  of  the  effect  on  the  equivalence  of 
area,  they  would  be  too  close  for  uniformity  in  the  line. 
Notice  that  the  V  and  A  have   zero  clear  distance 


32  FREE-HAND  LETTERING. 

between  them;  in  narrow  spacing  it  is  quite  necessary 
to  make  their  limits  even  overlap.  The  same  may  be 
said  of  the  R  and  V.  A  theory  as  to  a  definite  clear 
distance  should  not  be  allowed  to  interfere  with  freedom 
in  design. 

The  imiform  weight  of  the  stems  of  all  these  letters 
makes  the  problem  of  spacing  easier  than  it  is  in  the  case 
of  a  varied  stem  letter,  such  as  the  Roman ;  in  the  latter 
it  would  be  found  that  the  areas  of  spaces  would  be 
less  uniform  because  of  the  modifying  effect  of  the 
variations  in  the  stems.  It  is  not  so  easy  to  arrive  at  a 
determination   as  to   the  proper  value   of   such   spaces. 

Plate  VII  is  given  to  show  the  application  of  these 
principles  of  spacing  to  lines  of  lettering;  the  footnote 
to  the  plate  gives  sufficient  explanation  of  the  meaning 
of  the  treatment. 

20.  Development  of  Proper  Space  by  Sketch  Method. 

The  safest  rule  in  careful  lettering  by  which  to  get 
space  values  is  to  use  sketch  methods  and  by  correction 
and  adjustment  to  bring  the  lettering  to  such  a  finish  as 
appears  well;  imtil  the  eye  is  trained  to  appreciate 
unaided  the  small  differences  the  final  result  will  not 
be  likely  to  be  satisfactory. 

Fig.  4  illustrates  a  way  to  do  the  sketching.  This 
figure  shows,  as  nearly  as  it  is  possible  to  make  it  for 
purposes  of  reproduction,  the  way  in  which  the  word 
mechanism  was  built  up,  when  the  limits,  beginning 
and  ending,  of  the  word  were  not  fixed.      The  first  line. 


SPACING. 


33 


assumed  to  be  made  in  pencil,  gives  a  brief  indication 
of  space  and  width  of  letters,  beginning  at  the  left  and 
proceeding  towards  the  right.  The  second  line  shows 
how  a  more  careful  calculation  has  been  made  by  giving 
the  letter  spaces  a  treatment  that  suggests  form.  The 
lines  of  the  first  stage  are  still  preserved  to  indicate  the 

Fig.  4. 

I  1    •       ■  t  I 

J L! .I.L 1 L.'. .\j L.u.j._ I J..., 


.i.k.i.l:....L._..l; !izz^.i...^j..lii.:_oiV.i 

i.y..Lt...l.U.o 

STEUHl 

CHAM  ISM 


amount  of  the  correction.  The  third  line  shows  a 
somewhat  final  determination  of  the  values  of  letters 
and  spaces,  still  displaying  underneath  the  first  tentative 
efforts  at  shaping.  The  corrected  result  is  shown  in 
heavy  stroke.  The  fourth  line  is  freed  of  the  elementary 
efforts  by  erasure  of  the  pencil,  and  shows  how  the  letters 
are  both  more  carefully   shaped  and  the  thickness  of 


34  FREE-HAND  LETTERING. 

body  suggested  here  and  there.  At  this  stage  it  is 
quite  possible  with  a  skillful  hand  to  begin  to  ink  the 
letters  in  their  final  form,  but  an  additional  Hne  is  shown 
in  which  a  more  complete  sketch  in  pencil  is  made.  This 
last  line  corresponds  in  finish  to  line  e  of  Fig.  i,  the 
remaining  stages  being  completed  in  ink. 

While  no  mechanical  aids  are  necessar}'  in  laying  out 
lettering,  yet  it  is  quite  in  order,  particularly  for  the 
beginner,  nor  is  it  destructive  of  dependence  upon  the 
eye,  to  have  handy  a  mark  of  some  sort,  say  the  straight 
edge  of  a  piece  of  paper,  marked  with  the  width  of  the 
normal  letter,  and  also  a  normal  space,  i.e.,  which  would 
exist  between  two  vertical  stems,  and  as  the  sketch 
progresses  apply  the  scale  now  and  then  to  check  the 
calculation  and  to  see  if  the  values  are  varj^ing  satis- 
factorily. 

21.  Sketching  Preliminarily  in  Outline  Gothic. 

In  Fig.  4,  the  preHminan,'  sketch-work  was  done  in  a 
single-stroke  letter.  This  is  a  good  plan  to  follow  in  the 
prehminar>"  work  of  any  design;  the  simpler  the  elemen- 
tary forms  are  made,  the  less  is  the  designer  hampered 
in  his  layout  of  spacing  and  sizes  of  letters;  the  nicer 
differences  in  spacing  due  to  weight  of  body  and  so  on 
can  be  settled  at  a  later  stage  of  the  work.  In  the 
word  mechanism  the  I  is  the  only  letter  in  which  the 
weight  of  body  needs  to  be  provided  for  in  the  eariier 
stages  of  the  layout. 

When  the  Roman  letters  are  the  subject  of  the  design, 


SP/ICING.  35 

the  serifs  must  be  allowed  for  by  sufficient  additional 
space.  The  minimum  space  between  any  two  letters 
will  be  something  sHghtly  greater  than  twice  the  width 
of  a  serif,  for  these  should  not  touch  one  another  in  any 
case. 

22.  Spacing  of  Words,  Punctuation,  etc. 

The  spaces  used  between  words  and  also  after  punc- 
tuation marks  should  be  larger  than  the  spaces  between 
the  letters  of  a  word;  the  former  can  vary  according 
to  the  space  at  the  disposal  of  the  draftsman,  the  limits 
being  governed  by  the  proportions  of  the  separate 
letters.  It  must  be  remembered  that  increase  of  spacing 
increases  prominence  of  words;  in  the  same  manner 
increase  of  spacing  between  words  conduces  to  greater 
legibiHty.  To  give  an  idea  of  the  value  of  word  spacing, 
it  may  be  stated,  as  a  rough  suggestion,  that  in  ordinary 
cases  of  continuous  lettering  the  space  can  vary  between 
a  double  normal  space  and  the  width  of  one  letter  plus 
two  normal  spaces. 

After  a  comma,  semicolon,  or  colon  the  spacing  shoiild 
be  greater  than  between  words  in  the  body  of  a  sentence ; 
the  increase,  however,  should  not  be  very  great.  If 
the  same  space  is  allowed,  measuring  from  the  punctua- 
tion mark,  that  would  be  allowed  between  two  words 
in  the  sentence,  it  will  be  sufficient  in  the  case  or  the 
comma  and  semicolon ;  for  the  colon  it  should  be  shghtly 
greater. 

The  maximum  spacing  should  occur  after  a  period,  and 


36  FREE-HAND  LETTERING. 

should  be  greater  by  at  least  one  normal  space  than  that 
following  a  comma,  and  may  be  anything  above  that 
consistent  with  imity  in  the  reading  matter. 

The  question  may  arise,  what  constitutes  a  good 
spacing  between  letters  in  a  word?  The  minimum 
of  course  is  controlled  by  those  two  letters  wliich  will 
come  closest  together,  like  two  O's  or  two  A's,  and  from 
this  it  may  increase  to  any  value  consistent  with  legi- 
bility. It  is  probable  that  the  draftsman  mil  cultivate 
a  certain  very  limited  range  in  relative  value  of  space, 
relative,  that  is,  to  the  proportions  of  the  letters  chosen, 
and  it  will  always  prevail  in  his  work.  It  is  ver}^  con- 
venient to  do  this  so  that  the  minimum  of  attention 
can  be  given  to  this  part  of  the  subject,  the  rest  con- 
centrated upon  the  letter  forms  and  treatment.  Good 
practical   spacing   is   illustrated   on   Plate   VI. 


CHAPTER  III. 
THE  USE   OF  THE    PEN  AND   OFFHAND  LETTERING. 

23.  Letters  Should  be  Drawn  Throughout,  Not  Copied. 

The  draftsman  should  know  how  to  handle  his  pen  as 
well  as  shape  his  letters.  I\Iost  of  the  lettering  done 
will  be  finished  in  ink,  although  only  the  free  commercial 
letter  is  put  in  directly  without  any  previous  pencil 
treatment — such  a  letter  as  shown  on  Plates  VIII  and  IX. 
For  the  begiimer  it  is  desirable  to  make  a  careful  render- 
ing of  the  Roman  and  Gothic  forms,  first  in  pencil, 
where  change  and  correction  can  easily  be  made,  then 
later  also  carefully  in  ink,  so  as  to  become  thoroughly 
familiar  with  them  in  all  their  details.  In  rendering 
these  letters  on  a  large  scale  in  ink,  careful  penciling 
should  be  the  preliminary  step,  and  this  followed  as  far 
as  possible  in  the  inking. 

The  faults  of  letters,  however,  are  not  obviated  by 
inking,  rather  are  they  emphasized,  and  in  addition 
many  minor  faults  not  apparent  in  the  penciling,  because 
of  the  gray  lines,  stand  out  boldly  and  clearly  in  the 
inked  letters.  Therefore,  while  the  most  complete 
pencil  letter  is  advised  before  inking,  it  must  be  recog- 
nized that  the  drawing  of  a  letter  is  really  not  complete 

37 


38  FREE-HASD  LETTERJSG. 

until  the  letter  is  all  finished.  Again,  no  matter  how 
carefully  the  penciling  may  be  done,  it  is  impossible 
to  copy  it  perfectly  in  ink.  The  drawing  miist  proceed 
from  the  beginning  to  the  final  touch ;  p,t  no  stage  can  it  be 
taken  for  granted  that  the  drawing  has  ceased  and  copy 
work  begun;  slight  adjustments  will  be  found  neces- 
san.'  to  the  end  of  the  work,  even  sometimes  to  the  fill- 
ing in  of  the  hea\^-bodied  letters,  in  which  one  would 
suppose,  if  anywhere,  the  process  would  be  purely 
mechanical. 

24.  The  Kind  cf  Pen  to  Use. 

The  best  pen  to  use  will  depend  somewhat  upon  the 
kind  of  letter  to  be  drawn,  but  aside  from  this  the  touch 
of  draftsmen  differs,  and  what  would  respond  to  the 
handling  of  one  would  be  a  poor  tool  for  another.  Some 
find  a  stiff  pen  better  than  a  soft  one ;  it  depends  upon 
the  abihty  to  control  the  pressure  upon  the  paper. 
For  fine  work  on  a  small  scale,  neater  than  ordinary 
lettering  upon  working  drawings,  lettering  suitable  for 
a  small  map,  for  example,  up  to  three  thirtA^-seconds  of 
an  inch  high,  a  crow-quill  is  a  ver\'  good  instrunfent ; 
it  will  make  ver}^  clear  and  fine  lines,  and  can  also  be 
spread  out  to  make  a  relatively  broad  sweep  of  black 
line  about  one  thirt>'-second  of  an  inch  broad. 

For  ordinar}'  lettering  a  Gillott's  No.  303  will  be 
found  ver}^  satisfactory.  Any  pen  will  be  less  responsive 
to  the  hand  of  the  draftsman  when  either  too  new  or 
too  old,  its  life  at  best  being  but  a  short  one.     A  new 


THE   USE  OF  THE  PEN  /1ND   OFFHAND  LETTERING.       39 

pen,  which  is  apt  to  give  a  fine  wiry  hne  with  abrupt 
transition  to  the  heavier  strokes,  can  be  worn  down 
by  scratching  upon  some  rough  substance;  when  a 
Httle  old,  on  the  other  hand,  the  pen  will  refuse  to  make 
the  fine  strokes  and  will  have  points  of  weakness  render- 
ing it  uncertain,  f!0  that  it  had  better  be  discarded.  If 
used  on  rough  paper  it  must  be  coarser  than  if  used  oi\ 
smooth  paper,  else  it  will  catch  and  spatter  the  ink. 
Bristol -board  or  tracing-cloth  will,  either  of  them,  permit 
the  use  of  a  fine  pen. 

There  are  two  other  grades  of  Gillott's  pens  for  letter- 
ing, the  No.  192,  a  finer,  and  the  No.  404,  a  coarser  grade. 
The  commercial  stub  pen  is  a  very  good  one  to  use  for 
some  kinds  of  rough  lettering,  on  a  working  drawing, 
for  example ;  such  styles  as  2  and  4  on  Plate  VIII  come 
under  this  head. 

For  rather  large,  offhand  lettering,  with  the  small 
letters  about  5  mms.  (.2  of  an  inch)  or  more  high  and 
of  the  single-stroke  Gothic  style,  a  ball-pointed  pen 
may  be  found  very  convenient.  For  a  similar  style  of 
letter,  less  than  5  mms.  high,  the  Gillott's  No.  303  will 
do  very  well. 

It  is  best,  perhaps,  for  the  beginner  to  experiment 
a  little  on  pens,  learning  the  proper  kind  of  stroking, 
the  capacities  of  the  different  pens,  and  then  suit  his 
final  choice  of  pen  to  his  handling.  For  the  offhand 
lettering  shown  at  the  bottom  of  Plate  V  and  that  on 
Plate  IX  the  pen  used  should  be  such  a  one  as  will, 
without  perceptible  pressure,   make  the  full  weight  of 


40  FREE-HASD  LETTERING. 

stroke  desired,  and  should  be  held  squarel}*  with  the 
paper,  the  pen-handle,  that  is,  being  perpendicular  to 
the  line  of  the  lettering  and  immediately  in  front  of  the 
person.  A  slight  inclination  towards  the  right  is  feasible 
in  making  inclined  letters,  although  this  is  not  necessary. 

25.  The  Kind  of  Ink  to  Use. 

There  was  a  time,  not  long  ago,  when  the  best  ink 
for  drawing  was  that  groimd  up  from  the  imported 
India -ink  stick,  but  now  the  Hquid  drawing-inks  are  so 
satisfactory^  in  most  respects  that  it  does  not  pay  to 
grind  what  is  needed.  Higgins'  Waterproof  Drawing- 
ink  is  the  one  in  common  use.  It  should  not  be  left  ex- 
posed with  the  cork  out.  After  dipping  the  pen  in 
each  time,  the  bottle  should  be  closed  to  keep  out  the 
dust  and  prevent  e\'aporation. 

A  draftsm,an  ma^^"  consider  it  more  convenient  to  use 
a  fountain  pen  sometimes,  fiUed  with  Hquid  ink;  it  is 
not  ver^'  satisfactory^  however,  as  it  does  not  flow  freely 
enough  and  clogs  up  the  pen  outlet,  giving  frequent 
trouble.  The  ink  will  of  course  clog  up  an  ordinary-  pen 
rather  rapidly,  and  the  latter  should  therefore  be  wiped 
frequently;  it  is  a  good  plan  to  get  into  the  habit  of 
doing  it  just  before  each  fiUing. 

26.  The  Kind  of  Paper  to  Use. 

In  the  drafting-room  of  a  manufacturing  establish- 
ment, architect's  ofhce,  or  an^^  other  commercial  concern 
the  paper  that  is  used  is  chosen  for  its  fitness  for  mechan- 


THE   USE   OF   THE  PEN  ^ND   OFFHAND  LETTERING.       4^ 

ical  drawing,  and  in  the  main  works  equally  as  well 
for  free  pen-work.  Tracing-cloth  takes  the  ink  very 
well  except  that,  being  relatively  non-absorbent,  the 
ink  tends  to  pile  up  on  it  in  wet  heaps.  The  most 
suitable  paper  on  which  to  do  lettering  is  that  which  is 
the  smoothest,  the  Linen  Record  papers  or  Whatman's 
Hot-pressed,  but  best  of  all  the  good  Bristol-boards, 
the  Reynolds'  or  the  Strathmore  boards.  The  cheaper 
cardboards  deposit  a  chalk  on  the  pen  and  are  not  at 
all  satisfactory.  The  possibilities  of  making  a  good 
erasure  should  be  taken  into  account  also,  some  papers 
working  much  better  than  others.  The  above  recom- 
mended ones  are  very  satisfactory  in  this  respect. 

27.  How  to  Handle  the  Pen  for  Offhand  Lettering. 

Although  a  ready  familiarity  with  letter-forms  is 
essential  to  facility  in  offhand  lettering,  yet  there  are 
reasons  why  the  latter  may  to  advantage  be  practiced 
before  careful  lettering  in  ink  on  a  large  scale  is  done. 
It  is  necessary  to  cultivate  a  steady  and  controlled 
handling,  which  may  be  gained  by  a  practice  of  the 
different  kinds  of  short  strokes  used  in  the  offhand 
styles.  First  rule  light  limiting  lines  in  pencil  as  guides 
for  the  height  of  the  capitals  and  the  small  letters. 
These  should,  at  least  in  the  case  of  the  small  letters, 
be  invariably  used  even  in  practical  work. 

Referring,  for  a  time,  in  what  follows  to  the  offhand 
letter,  such  as  on  Plates  VIII  and  IX,  w^e  see  that  vertical 
and  inclined  straight  strokes  together  with  the  elliptical 


42 


FREE-HAND   LETTERING. 


forms,  whether  made  up  of  one  continuous  stroke  or 
several,  should  be  possible  with  perfect  control  of  the 
hand.  These  separate  forms  should  be  practiced. 
Keep  a  small  piece  of  trial  paper  tacked  to  one  side 
of  the  drawing-board;  on  this,  after  filling  the  pen, 
a  start  of  the  Hne  should  be  made,  cleaning  out  the 
pen  with  a  rag  and  refilling  if  found  not  to  work 
satisfactorily. 

Tr\'  the  stroking  as  shown  in  Fig.  5,  the  straight  lines 


imillUE 


i      V 


CCCCl 


ffltzzz/z  7/7//.  ....\\v\  \^ 

slant  of  about  20' 

Toiai 

. . .  A- J . .  IJ.  J  .  .  >t3^  Ai:^.  V^.  .'^.  .  Lj-.L/.L/.  .U.  .ex  >w< . 


""nSGUISDDR 


.GL/.L/Qfe.- 


first ;  it  is  the  simplest  kind  that  can  be  used  and  is  the 
basis  of  the  matter  on  Plate  VIII.  At  first  it  will  be 
difficult  to  make  the  continuous  straight  strokes  of 
uniform  width;  to  aid  this,  first  hold  the  pen  so  that 
the  plane  of  the  pen  axis  and  the  line  to  be  made  are 
perpendicular  to  each  other,  then  touch  the  paper,  press- 
ing the  nibs  of  the  pen  apart  to  the  proper  width  before 
starting  the  stroke;  after  starting,  continue  the  motion 
uninterruptedly  until  the  end,  and  Hft  the  pen  just  an 


THE   USE  OF   THE  PEN  AND   OFFHAND  LETTERING.       43 

instant  after  stopping  motion,  else  the  line  will  taper 
out  to  a  fine  point. 

If  a  lump  tends  to  accumulate  at  either  end  of  the 
line  it  can  generally  be  avoided  by  carrying  less  ink  in 
the  pen,  combined  with  a  briefer  hesitation  at  the  begin- 
ning and  the  ending.  Whole-arm  motion,  too,  may  be 
found  helpful  in  preserving  uniformity  in  the  weight 
and  the  direction  of  the  Hnes. 

If  difficulty  is  experienced  in  preserving  proper  direc- 
tion, whether  for  the  vertical  or  the  inclined  strokes,  rule 
light  pencil-Hnes  at  frequent  intervals  to  serve  as  sights 
for  the  eye  to  follow. 

Next,  try  the  curved  strokes,  preser\ang  the  direction 
shown  by  arrow-heads,  still  keeping  equal  spacing  and 
uniform  weight  of  strokes  if  possible.  Practice  making 
the  elliptical  forms  with  one  continuous  stroke,  as  this 
is  the  ideal  way  to  treat  the  oft'hand  letters.  The  weight 
of  the  stroke  is  governed  by  a  certain  minimum  pressure 
of  the  pen  on  the  paper;  if  the  pressure  is  varied,  a 
sidewise  motion  of  the  pen  will  give  a  different  weight  of 
stroke  from  that  shown  in  the  straight  lines  of  the  figure. 
In  these  exercises  the  accurate  spacing  of  strokes 
should  receive  as  much  attention  as  any  other  feature, 
for,  although  not  important  here,  the  practice  is  bene- 
ficial as  preparing  for  the  almost  equal  spacing  of  the 
strokes  in  the  combined  letters,  for  example  the  n  and  the 
m,  and  the  equal  spacing  of  the  letters  from  each  other. 
A  useful  form  to  give  this  practical  work,  and  rather 
more    interesting    than    meaningless    stroking,    is    that 


44  FREE-HAND   LETTERING. 

demonstrated  by  the  figure,  which  is  to  divide  letters 
into  their  component  parts,  practicing  each  part  sep- 
arately for  a  time  and  then  combining  them  into  the 
letter;  the  significance  of  the  drfferent  parts  of  the 
letter  is  in  this  way  better  appreciated. 

If  at  any  time  it  is  desired  to  make  a  simple  form  of 
letter  like  these,  but  with  a  body  heavier  than  can  be 
controlled  with  one  stroke  of  the  pen,  it  is  best,  if 
possible,  to  use  a  fine  outline  with  space  between  the 
strokes  to  be  filled  in  aften\-ards.  The  use  of  contiguous 
strokes  is  ver^^  apt  to  result  in  irregularity,  which  must 
afterwards  be  corrected  by  touching  up;  still  this  is 
sometimes  absolutely  necessary.  In  such  a  case,  it  is 
best  to  work  the  second  stroke  against  a  wet  line,  for, 
if  dry,  black  on  black  covers  up  defects  in  the  free 
running  of  the  pen. 

Considerable  practice  is  necessars'  in  order  to  gain 
proficiency  in  offhand  lettering,  and  a  thorough  pre- 
liminary^ groundwork  in  exercises,  such  as  in  the  figure 
shoT\Ti,  are  ver}^  profitable.  The  ideal  of  perfection  in 
an  oftTiand  letter  is  never  reached,  but  an  acceptable 
result  is  obtained  when  there  is  an  evident  controlled 
freedom  and  intelligent  handling,  the  errors  in  handling 
being  imiformly  distributed  and  not  occurring  strikingly 
here  and  there. 

28.  The  Outline  Gothic  for  Offhand  Work. 

The  outline  Gothic  in  the  figure  just  discussed,  and  as 
also   shown  on  Plate  V,  is  a  type  of  letter  which  can 


THE   USE  OF  THE  PEN  /tND   OFFHAND  LETTERING.       45 

hardly  be  improved  upon  for  an  offhand  treatment, 
both  for  ease  in  execution  and  legibility.  An  analysis 
of  all  of  the  letters  into  strokes  is  shown  at  the  top,  but  it 
is  only  introduced  as  a  suggestion  of  how  to  treat  them. 
Different  ways  for  the  sequence  of  the  strokes  is  shown ; 
in  skillful  hands  a  continuous  stroke  will  suffice  for  many 
of  the  letters,  E,  C,  0,  S,  but  it  is  almost  impossible  to 
make  a  vertical  up-stroke  as  would  be  necessary  for  the 
V,  U,  etc.  The  student  is  advised  to  practice  the  letters 
singly,  following  this  analysis  and  that  of  Fig.  5.  A 
good  groiindwork  in  proper  stroking  in  these  separated 
letters  is  worth  hours  of  subsequent  practicing  in  prac- 
tical application  to  drawings,  for  habits  once  formed  will 
persist.  In  beginning  the  subject,  much  less  practice  is 
required  than  at  first  supposed,  but  being  dry  and 
uninteresting,  is  not  apt  to  attract  the  student;  this 
letter,  too,  may  be  practiced  as  an  equally  good  groimd- 
work  for  any  of  the  other  styles  shown  on  Plate  IX. 

On  Plate  VIII  are  certain  well-known  and  common 
variations  upon  the  straight  Gothic  letter ;  they  indicate 
sufficiently,  in  the  few  examples  shown,  how  the  rest  of 
the  alphabet  may  be  treated  without  the  necessity  of 
having  all  the  letters  present  on  the  plate.  The  student 
is  advised  to  use  discretion  in  the  distribution  of  these 
variations  in  a  line  of  lettering,  because  a  too  lavish 
use  of  them  may  result  in  weakening  the  effect  of  the 
whole. 

The  extended  and  compressed  forms  have  their  spheres 
of  usefulness,  and  the  student  will  find  that  he  can  soon 


46  FREE-HAND  LETTERING. 

pass  from  the  one  to  the  other  when  occasion  requires; 
however,  it  is  advisable  to  cultivate  for  general  use  one 
proportion,  and  this  one  rather  bordering  on  the  extended 
form.  A  very  short  letter  can  be  used  if  it  is  only  made 
sufficiently  wide.  The  legibiHty  of  a  letter  is  increased 
more  by  a  shght  increase  in  width  than  by  one  in  height. 
The  extended  form  should  in  particular  be  used  in  the 
dimension  figures  on  a  drawing. 

The  lower  line  of  Fig.  5  shows  an  analysis  of  one  of 
the  variations  just  mentioned;  a  certain  angularity  of 
the  curved  forms  is  to  be  noted ;  the  ovals,  too,  are  made 
inclined  and  pear-shaped. 

The  inclined  Gothic  will  have  the  same  characteristics 
as  the  inclined  letters  on  Plate  IV;  there  should  be 
sufficient  inclination  of  stems  to  avoid  the  effect  of  a 
vertical  letter  carelessly  made.  Otherv^^ise  the  amount 
of  the  inclination  is  governed  b}*  legibiHty;  20  degrees 
from  the  vertical,  however,  gives  a  good  general  slant. 

The  remaining  features  of  inclined  letters  were  dis- 
cussed in  connection  with  this  plate  in  sec.  14.  The 
footnotes  to  some  of  the  other  plates  are  in  the  upright 
and  inclined  Gothic.  Plate  VII  illustrates  one  of  the 
variations;  Plate  XIII,  a  back-hand  form  of  the  Gothic; 
Plate  XI,   the  inclined. 

29.  Other  Offhand  Styles. 

On  Plate  IX  are  several  other  st^des  of  letters  for 
offhand  work.  No.  i  is  but  slightly  different  from 
the  single-stroke  Gothic  just  discussed,  but  in  the  small 


THE  USE  OF   THE  PEN  AhID   OFFHAND  LETTERING.       47 

letters  the  oval  forms  are  simplified,  and  one  who,  after 
practicing  sufficiently,  becomes  convinced  of  his  in- 
aptitude to  make  clear  round  forms  can  resort  to  this 
with  promise  of  better  success.  The  capitals  can  also 
be  treated  in  the  same  square  construction. 

Some  may  find  the  swelled-stroke  letters  of  lines  2,  3, 
4,  7,  and  8  suit  their  hands  better,  but  the  uniform 
strokes  just  described  should  be  mastered  in  a  measur- 
able degree  first,  for  use  in  larger  imiform  letters,  in 
titles,  etc. 

Nos.  3  and  4  go  together,  also  7  and  8.  They  are 
shown,  although  nearly  aUke,  because  the  difference 
in  direction  of  inclination  involves  a  difference  in  the 
swinging  of  the  strokes. 

In  the  swelled-stroke  letters  the  position  of  the  pen 
relative  to  the  line  made  should  be  the  same  as  for 
the  other  offhand  styles  discussed,  but  motion  should 
begin  and  end  somewhat  gradually  after  touching  the 
paper  and  cease  gradually  on  leaving  it.  Keep  a  strong 
pressure  equally  uniform,  and  cultivate  a  imiform  way 
of  bearing  down  at  the  beginning  and  a  lifting  up  of  the 
pen  at  the  ending  of  strokes.  It  is  true  that  in  this 
form  of  letter  minor  defects  are  less  noticeable  than 
in  the  more  rigid  forms.  A  few  useful  exercises  for 
preparation  in  making  this  kind  of  letter  are  shovm 
in  Fig.  6.  The  chief  difference  between  the  upper 
group  of  two  and  the  lower  group  is  that  the  strokes  in 
the  lower  group  are  swelled  uniformly,  while  those  in  the 
upper  emphasize  the  lower  parts  of  the  letters;    this, 


48  FREE-HAND  LETTERING. 

carried  even  farther  in  the  matter  of  concentration  of 
weight,  is  illustrated  in  the  footnote  to  Plate  VI. 

No.  5  is  suitable  for  a  heavy  blunt  pen  that  is  apt  to 
spill  the  ink,  or  for  a  stiff  pen  which  does  not  obey  the 
handling  readily,  or  the  ball-pointed  pen. 

No.  6  is  quite  a  favorite  with  some  who  admire  the 

Fig.  6. 

Analysis  of  the  stroking  on  Plate  VIII. 
Style  2.    ^  "^ 

Style  3. 

Style  7- 

style  8. 


l.::^- 


Roman  letter;  it  is  distinguished  from  its  parent  by 
having  no  fillets  to  connect  the  serifs  with  the  stems. 
The  small  letters  may  be  of  the  stump  form  shown  on 
Plate  V.  It  is  made,  of  course,  with  the  minimum  of 
handling,  the  heavy  strokes  with  one  sweep  of  the  pen, 
their  imperfect  ends  afterwards  trued  up  with  the  serifs. 
It  is  undoubtedly  one  of  the  best  appearing  letters  upon 


THE  USE  OF   THE  PEN  /IND   OFFH/IND   LETTERING.       49 

a  drawing,  but  it  requires  special  aptitude  in  lettering 
to  do  it  rapidly  enough  to  suit  the  requirements  of 
practice.      Fig.  7   is   introduced   to   show   the   kind   of 

Fig.  7 

ITT j(J 


ufTiiJinxXMs::, 


practice  stroking  for  the  style  where  the  stump  writing 
f.or  the  small  letters  is  used. 

The  numerals  used  in  connection  with  the  offhand 
styles  need  not  necessarily  partake  of  the  characteristics 
of  the  latter.  An  important  thing  to  observ^e  in  numerals 
on  a  drawing  is  that  they  should  be  fairly  legible  and,  as 
before  mentioned,  this  is  effected  more  by  increase  of 
width  than  of  height.  Therefore  a  figure  that  is  broader 
than  its  height  is  more  common  on  working  drawings; 
examples  9  and  10  show  figures  applied  to  a  drawing. 
Consult  Plate  XII  for  a  very  broad  figure. 

Fig.  8  gives  an  analysis  of  the  strokes  used  in  making 
the  simple  single-stroke  figures  on  working  drawings. 
A  more  careful  treatment  by  dividing  up  figures  into 
more  parts  can  be  used  when  desired  on  larger  work. 

On  Plate  XVII  will  be  found  other  free  styles  of  off- 
iiand  letters,  more  used,  however,  by  architects;    they 


5©  FREE-H.4S-D  LETTERING. 

are  copies  from  the  authorities  whose  names  are  printed 
under  each.  In  some  such  ornamental  styles  as  these 
the  defects  of  unsteady  handling  are  not  so  likely  to  be 
offensive ;  particularly  is  this  true  of  style  e.  But  lack 
of  fadlity  which  is  thus  disguised  must  be  replaced  by 

Fig.  8. 

PP  P  2Z2^  33  3 
3^  ..4  4'    b  b^  b  "S  ~A 

^•6^-b-  fe'AS  S 


a  rarer  cuaHty,  judgment  in  the  appropriateness  of  the 
varia:i:r-5  to  the  general  make-up. 


30.   Some  Special  Directions  about  the  Use  of  the  Pen. 

J  Kind  of  tenciling  ::r  inked  letters.  The  penciling 
-hi;::  i;  .:;- 1  ;-  r  :  '.':.-.  :  h  ::c  ?:  .hi  :e  "f  the  hghtest 
p:i5i:lr,  :.-:.L  e:::  e;  tlu^t  it  ;i_:i  i-z  rasily  erased,  and  the 
eraser,  too,  one  of  the  soft  kind  so  that  it  will  not  injure 
t'r.e  ink  :r  paper.  For  offhand  lettering  the  only 
7  :.  iiirr  uEr  :  should  be  for  the  guide-lines;  for  careful 
i  ::r  i  ::  ri:_  t'.r  penciling  should  be  as  complete  as 
ii  it  T  rre  z-j>  tcr  ir.  -v.  pencil  except  as  regards  the  black- 
ness of  the  line;  he  paper  should  be  kept  as  pure  as 
possible,   even  a   rrii- i.    .im  erasing  of  the  paicil-Hnes, 


THE   USE  OF   THE  PEN  AND   OFFHAND   LETTERING.       5^ 

SO  that  the  ink  will  take  freely.  Ink  \Yill  not  flow  freely 
upon  a  dark  pencil -line  because  the  lead  is  more  or  less 
greasy. 

ib)  Filling  in  the  thick  stems  of  letters.  In  fiUing 
in  the  thick  stems  of  letters  the  pen  should  be  used 
like  a  brush.  A  fine  outline  is  first  drawn  ideally  with 
steady  continuous  strokes;  this  furnishes  a  wall  to 
retain  the  ink  and  should  look  Hke  the  H  in  Fig.  i. 
Continuous  paint-brush-Hke  strokes  are  next  drawn 
within  the  wall,  the  long  way  of  each  member, 
touching  each  other  if  the  letter  is  not  too  thick, 
imtil  the  whole  is  filled.  If  for  a  xQvy  thick  body, 
a  middle  stroke  may  be  taken,  as  in  B  of  Fig.  i 
and  allowed  to  dry  before  completing  the  rest.  This 
process  is  desirable  because  it  does  not  disturb  the 
paper  by  tearing  up  the  fibers.  The  scratching  by 
short  strokes,  usual  with  beginners,  will  do  this,  making 
blots  hkely  and  leave  its  ear-marks  generally  throughout 
the  surface.  In  a  broad  and  general  way,  use  the  pen 
as  a  painter  uses  a  striper  in  sign-painting. 

{c)  How  to  correct  errors  in  inking.  First  wait  for 
the  mistake  to  get  thoroughly  dry,  then  always  use  a  sand 
rubber,  or  in  other  words  an  ink-eraser  (never  a  knife) . 
Rub  Hghtly  in  all  directions,  and  by  slow  degrees  cleai 
the  paper  thoroughly  in  the  immediate  neighborhood 
of  the  error,  not  being  troubled  because  it  cleans  off 
somewhat  more  than  the  mistake.  Next  clean  off  the 
sand  with  a  pencil-eraser,  and  finally  burnish  down  \\ath 
the  ivory  end  of  a  penknife  or  that  of  a  regular  knife 


52  FREE-HAND  LETTERING. 

eraser.  Pencil  in  as  if  for  new  work  and  then  ink  it 
over,  manipulating  the  pen  with  extra  care  over  the 
erased  portion  and  also  when  filling  in  has  to  be  done; 
the  ink  is  more  liable  to  sprea'd  here  than  elsewhere, 
ovemmning  its  boundaries. 

Erasing-shields  can  be  purchased  and  are  very  handy 
lor  small  errors;  they  consist  of  a  piece  of  thin  sheet 
brass  having  holes  in  it  differing  in  shape  and  size.  It 
holds  the  paper  down  tight  and  prevents  the  cleaning 
of  a  surface  larger  than  necessary. 

{d)  Points  about  lettering  on  tracing-cloth.  It  is 
convenient  to  slip  a  piece  of  fine  cross-sectioned  paper 
underneath  the  cloth  to  furnish  the  guide-lines  or  to 
rule  the  hnes  in  pencil  on  white  paper  and  slip  this  under. 
The  smooth  side  of  cloth  holds  the  ink  wet  on  its  surface 
longer  than  paper,  hence  use  less  ink  at  any  time  in  the 
pen,  and  particularly  in  making  additions  to  strokes  and 
in  trimming  up. 

If  a  mistake  is  made,  use,  as  before,  the  ink-eraser 
very  carefully;  no  burnishing  upon  the  cloth  will  be 
foimd  necessary,  in  fact  it  is  impossible.  Not  more 
than  two  or  three  erasures  over  the  same  place  can  be 
made  at  best  on  even  the  smooth  side  of  the  cloth 
before  it  will  give  wav 

31.  Proper  Size  for  Offhand  Lettering. 

The  size  suitable  for  oft'hand  letters  for  working 
drawings  depends  of  cotu-se  upon  the  proportions  of  the 
letters.     A  narrow  small  letter  can  be  one-eighth  of  an 


THE  USE  OF  THE  PEN  AND  OFFHAND  LETTERING.       S3 

inch  high  or  even  slightly  higher,  whereas,  if  a  broad 
letter  is  used,  less  than  one-sixteenth  of  an  inch  wiU 
suffice.  Beginners  are  apt  to  err  on  the  side  of  a  letter 
too  large.  Those  on  Plate  VIII  show  a  good  size  to  use, 
also  those  shown  on  the  working  drawing  on  Plate  XII. 
The  footnotes  to  the  various  plates  show  suitable  prac- 
tical sizes. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

DESIGN  OF   LINES   AND    OF  TITLES. 

32.  The  Single-line  Title. 

Consider  now  a  kind  of  careful  lettering  which  we 
find  instanced  in  a  caption  to  a  drawing,  one  line 
of  words  to  designate  a  subject.  What  constitutes  an 
appropriate  letter  for  this  purpose,  and  how  is  it  best  to 
treat  it?  Titles  of  course  involve,  in  a  measure,  design. 
We  will  not  speak  now,  however,  of  the  designed  letter 
found  so  commonly  in  advertisements,  where  the  best 
lettering  is  to  be  seen  to-day,  but  simply  of  those  points 
of  design  which  involve  the  choice  of  some  very  simple 
letters  treated  in  an  invariable  way.  There  is  a  system 
which  can  be  followed  and  which  will  insure  intelHgent 
treatment  and  appropriateness  to  the  purpose  intended. 
Such  a  title  we  find,  for  example,  across  the  top  of 
working  drawings  or  that  of  the  U.  S.  Geological  Survey 
maps  so  familiar  to  every  one. 

In  designing  a  title,  a  student  must  keep  in  mind  the 
fundamental  requisites  of  appropriateness.  The  ten- 
dency in  beginning  always  seems  to  be  to  make  lettering 
too  prominent.  Just  what  size  and  character  of  letter 
to  use  is  governed  by  the  requirement  that  it  should 

54 


DESIGN  OF  LINES  ^ND  OF  TITLES.  $5 

keep  its  place,  and  that  place,  is  one  generally  of  lesser 
prominence  than  the  drawing.  The  lettering  should 
not  be  striking,  but  legible  and  neat. 

33.  The  Choice  of  Style  and  Size. 

Assume  the  styles  to  be  chosen  from  among  the  very 
few  well-known  ones  illustrated  on  Plates  I  to  VII  and 
applied  to  working  drawings  or  maps.  To-day  the 
marked  characteristic  of  good  lettering  is  simplicity. 
The  day  of  ornamental  lettering  is  past,  if  it  ever 
really  existed  outside  the  covers  of  the  imported  books 
of  alphabets,  also  that  of  the  letter  drawn  in  perspective 
as  if  it  stood  out  from  the  paper  and  the  place  where  it 
properly  belongs.  The  design  of  the  letters  themselves 
appears  in  slight  modifications  and  in  adjustments  to 
one  another  in  their  places  in  words.  No  more  fitting 
letter  for  a  single-line  title  can  be  found  than  the  Gothic 
illustrated  so  abundantly  on  Plate  VII,  and  it  must  he 
conceded  that  it  is  also  the  simplest. 

The  choice  of  style  will  depend  somewhat  upon  the 
character  of  the  drawing.  The  U.  S.  Geological  Survey 
calls  for  Roman  and  Gothic  letters  together  with  italics 
exclusively;  the  working  drawing  of  the  engineering 
establishment  usually  includes  these  together  with  the 
other  simple  styles  which  are  slight  ^-ariations  upon 
them.  The  display  or  show  drawing  may  have  slightly 
more  ambitious  treatment,  although  it  is  not  usual  to 
do  more  than  make  the  letters  heavier.  The  architec- 
tural drawing  will  display  a  letter  which  is  the  product 


56  FREE-HAND  LETTERING. 

of  a  more  artistic  hand  than  the  foregoing.  The 
architect  Hkes  to  be  free  in  his  treatment,  and  not 
infrequently  gives  expression  to  rather  weird  forms 
entirely  out  of  the  conventional,  but  characteristic  of 
his  profession,  a  letter  such  as  we  see  on  Plate  XVII 
It  is  not  always  sure  to  be  legible,  and  this  is  its  chiel 
fault,  but  because  it  is  rather  traditional  in  the  profession 
it  is  accepted  with  less  criticism  than  it  probably  would 
receive  elsewhere. 

Titles  are  generally  put  wholly  in  capitals.  For  a  little 
more  compact  treatment  large  and  small  capitals  are 
sometimes  used,  the  relative  height  of  the  latter  being 
greater  than  if  small  letters  were  used  in  their  place.  We 
very  much  less  frequently  see  titles  composed  of  capitals 
and  small  letters.  For  much  matter  in  small  space, 
however,  this  arrangement  is  very  efficient,  for  it  can 
be  easily  read,  probably  more  easily  than  if  capitals  of 
equal  proportion  and  treatment  were  employed. 

It  is  difficult  to  give  any  directions  as  to  size  of  let- 
ter, for  the  effect  depends  largely  upon  treatment.  Per- 
haps it  is  safe  to  say  that  the  limit  in  height  of  the  letters 
on  a  working  drawing  can  be  taken  as  one-half  of  an 
inch,  this  when  a  light  body  and  narrow  letter  is  used, 
of  the  proportions,  for  example,  of  the  letters  in  i, 
Plate  XI ;  and  the  limit  for  weight  of  body,  if  a  Gothic 
or  Roman  letter,  one-sixteenth  of  an  inch,  in  the  case  of 
a  short  broad  letter. 

It  is  probable  that  one  will  fall  by  habit  into  making 
letters  of  a  generally  similar  proportion  and  even  with 


DESIGN  OF  LINES  /IND   OF  TITLES.  57 

a  tendency  towards  the  same  kind  of  spacing,  so  that 
choice  reduces  to  a  question  of  what  length  the  line 
of  lettering  is  going  to  be  or  of  the  amount  of  wording 
to  go  into  the  line. 

34.  How  to  Lay  Out  the  Line. 

Sometimes  the  space  for  a  title  is  fixed  in  length; 
as  an  exercise  for  practice  work  it  should  be.  An  idea 
of  about  what  size  letter  will  do  for  a  given  space  can  be 
determined  by  sketching  roughly  on  a  piece  of  trial 
paper  without  limiting  lines. 

Next,  the  balance  of  the  line  can  be  ascertained  by 
counting  the  letters,  finding  the  approximate  middle 
of  the  line,  possibly  even  the  quarter  and  three-quarter 
points.  This  is  accomplished  by  counting  both  words 
and  spaces,  also  by  the  position  of  the  largest  letters, 
M  and  W,  and  the  smallest,  the  I,  in  the  hne,  and  allow- 
ing for  them. 

After  this  the  method  of  developing  the  line  should 
be  entirely  analogous  to  the  development  of  a  word,  as 
discussed  in  sec.  19.  The  gradual  sketch  development 
is  preeminently  the  safest  and  most  expeditious.  The 
first,  last,  and  middle  letter  may  be  lightly  drawn,  then 
those  in  between,  as  was  the  word  mechanism.  The 
spaces  between  words  can  always  be  used  as  equalizing 
factors,  being  expanded  or  contracted  to  suit  the  length 
of  the  line. 

In  the  first  rough  layout  the  single-stroke  Gothic 
may  be  used  whatever  is  to  be  the  character  of  the  letter 


58  FREE-HAND   LETTERJSG. 

when  finished.  After  allowing  for  any  extraneous  dif- 
ferences, as  in  the  addition  of  spurs  to  a  Roman  letter, 
the  I  needs  to  be  allowed  for;  the  weight  of  its  body 
decides  the  space  required  by  this  letter,  which  it  does 
not  in  the  case  of  the  other  letters. 

35.  Degree  of  Finish  to  Give  a  Title. 

Titles  are  frequently  made  more  or  less  offhand,  that 
is,  rapidly  and  directly  in  ink.  To  do  this  well  without 
careftil  preliminary  penciling  requires  considerable  prac- 
tice. The  single-stroke  Gothic  letter,  of  capitals  through- 
out, is  frequently  used  in  such  cases ;  it  should  not  re- 
quire more  than  a  few  minutes  to  put  in  a  line  of  it.  Of 
course  the  treatment  looks  offhand  and  does  not  have 
the  appearance  of  the  titles  on  the  U.  S.  Geological 
Sur\^ey  maps,  but  for  the  requirements  of  general  office 
work  it  is  adequate. 

A  title  put  in  to  look  as  if  engraved  or  printed  from 
type  requires  exquisite  care  in  its  handling ;  such  can- 
not have  too  careful  preliminary  penciling.  The  degree 
of  finish  to  impart  will  depend  also  upon  the  character  of 
the  drawing  to  which  a  title  is  attached.  Xeat  exact 
drawings  for  photographic  reproduction  require  a  neat 
exact  letter;  this  should  be  treated  with  the  careful 
penciling  mentioned,  copied  carefully  also  with  a  ver}' 
fine  pen,  possibly  a  crow-quill,  rendering  in  a  fine  con- 
tour, with  attention  mainly  to  the  outer  edges  of  the 
strokes.  This  contour  can  afterwards  be  filled  in  with 
a  coarser  pen  or  brush. 


DESIGN  OF  LINES  AND  OF  TITLES.  59 

General  working  drawings,  for  office  and  shop  use 
alone,  permit  only  of  a  very  free  treatment.  Broad, 
sweeping,  and  continuous  strokes  are  in  order ;  if  possible 
the  full  weight  of  the  stems  of  the  letters ;  if  not,  then 
it  is  necessary  to  add  to  them  while  wet  until  the  strength 
is  attained  that  is  demanded  by  the  letter.  Touching 
up  of  lines  is  generally  impracticable. 

36.  The  Design  of  Grouped  Titles. 

A  grouped  title  is  such  a  one  as  we  see  on  Plates  X 
and  XI,  where  a  certain  amount  of  information  is  sepa- 
rated into  Hues,  generally  grouped  in  the  lower  right- 
hand  comer  of  a  working  drawing,  occasionally  in  the 
upper  middle  part.  Maps,  the  drawings  of  architects, 
and  the  working  drawings  for  shop  use  contain  these. 
To  make  a  neat-appearing  group  of  the  subject-matter 
requires  considerable  taste  and  practice.  The  division 
of  the  subject-matter  into  Hues  may  not  require  much 
discretion  if  the  title  is  not  extended;  the  title  of  the 
sheet,  the  firm  name,  address,  and  connectives  generally 
compose  the  material,  each  naturally  requiring  a  separate 
line. 

After  arranging  the  Hning  of  the  title,  be  assured 
that  the  best  all-around  effect  is  obtained  by  simplicity 
of  treatment.  It  may  be  remarked,  in  passing,  that  the 
generality  of  titles  upon  working  drawings  ignore  this 
one  fimdamental  principle  of  all  design;  the  first  effort 
seems  to  be  directed  to  choosing  a  different  style  of  letter 
for  each  Hne  and  obtaining  prominence  of  certain   fea- 


6o  FREE-HAND  LETTERING. 

tures  by  elaborateness  of  alphabet.  A  single  style  of 
letter  can  be  used  in  the  make-up  of  a  title,  and  it  can 
be  diversified  with  sufficient  difference  in  effect  to  suit 
the  most  fastidious.  The  fewer  styles  used  in  any  case 
the  neater  will  be  the  design. 

37!  Various  Considerations  to  be  Observed  in  Designing. 

There  are  a  number  of  things  to  be  observed  in  the 
designing  of  a  title  to  completely  fill  its  purpose,  which 
will  now  be  taken  up  severally  and  discussed. 

(a)  Simplicity  of  contour  shape.  Notice  examples  of 
good  lettering  to  be  met  with  daily  in  our  advertising 
matter;  we  can  see  that  the  groups  possess  simple 
shapes;  tangents  drawn  to  the  extremities  of  the  suc- 
cessive and  prominent  lines  enclose  a  simple  geometrical 
figure,  rectangular,  trapezoidal,  or  one  of  simple  curves, 
the  figure  sometimes  actually  lending  a  certain  special 
interest  to  the  group.  If,  in  grouping  lines  of  letters, 
they  are  spread  apart  and  made  more  scattered,  perhaps 
by  virtue  of  marked  differences  in  lengths  of  line,  these 
tangents  will  not  enclose  a  simple  but  a  rather  complex 
iminteresting  figure,  disturbing  the  unity'  of  the  subject. 
Notice  the  shapes  of  the  titles  shown  on  Plates  X  and 
XI.  It  is  probably  a  good  rule  in  sketching  the 
layout  of  such  titles  as  these  to  design  the  title 
without  regard  to  the  connectives,  putting  them  in 
afterwards  and  suiting  their  treatment  to  the  room 
at  their  disposal.  The  shape  should  be  given  by  the 
principal  lines. 


DESIGN  OF  LINES  AND  OF  TITLES.  6 1 

(6)  Proper  relative  prominence  of  lines.  The  chief 
feature  in  the  title  should  be  brought  out  with  sufficient 
prominence  to  catch  the  eye  at  a  glance  but  it  should  not 
be  so  large  or  prominent  as  to  entirely  dwarf  everything 
else.  Other  lines  will  also  require  more  or  less  promi- 
nence. Each  line  should  take  its  place  in  the  general 
scheme,  none  attracting  more  attention  than  its  due. 
In  a  short  title  of  a  few  Hnes  it  is  not  difficult  to  decide 
upon  the  relative  prominence  of  the  parts.  In  more 
extensive  titles,  two  or  more  lines  may  seem  to  require 
about  equal  prominence,  yet,  from  considerations  of 
design,  should  not  be  treated  exactly  ahke  or,  even  if 
treated  ahke,  being  of  quite  different  length,  would  vary 
in  their  prominence.  Such  points  as  these  should  be 
appreciated. 

(c)  Matters  affecting  prominence  of  words.  Change  in 
the  prominence  of  a  group  of  words  making  up  a  line 
of  lettering  can  be  effected  in  a  variety  of  ways  and  by 
combinations  of  these  ways;  for  example:  change  in 
proportions  of  letters,  particularly  in  the  width;  change 
in  the  spacing  of  letters  and  words ;  change  in  the  weight 
and  treatment  of  the  body  of  letters;  change  in  the 
alphabet  style  or  by  slight  variations  or  ornamentations, 
and  lastly,  italicizing.  This,  it  may  be  observed,  within 
a  group  of  lines  of  upright  letters,  will  be  more  prominent 
than  the  rest,  even  though  of  the  same  kind  of  alphabet, 
and  treated  the  same. 

Some  of  these  features  of  course  affect  the  appearance 
of  the  words  in  a  Hne  more  than  others ;  just  how  much» 


62  FREE-HAND  LETTERING. 

relatively,  is  a  matter  to  be  settled  by  experiment. 
Any  one  of  them  applied  to  a  ver\'  slight  degree  will 
effect  a  noticeable  change,  because  what  is  done  to  one 
letter  is  repeated  in  many  letters  of  the  line,  and  in  the 
aggregate  becomes  noticeable.  Therefore  it  can  be 
readily  seen  that  if  several  of  these  expedients  are  used 
together  each  must  be  dwarfed  over  what  it  would  re- 
quire to  be  if  used  alone.  The  tendency  of  a  beginner  in 
designing  groups  of  lines  is  to  give  altogether  too  much 
prominence  to  important  features,  hence  the  reason  for 
giving  this  caution. 

{d)  Uniformity  of  treatment.  The  whole  title  should 
receive  equal  finish  in  treatment.  To  draw  one  part 
ver\'  carefully  and  to  make  another  part  offhand  with 
the  intention  of  lessening  its  prominence  is  a  mistake 
in  design.  The  title  should  be  treated  either  all  carefully 
or  all  offhand.  Again,  if  all  capitals  are  used  in  the 
prominent  features,  all  capitals  should  prevail  elsewhere, 
with  the  exception  that  some  one  Hne  alone  may  be  thus 
varied.  In  a  title  mainly  of  capitals,  capitals  and 
small  letters  may  be  used  appropriately  for  the  un- 
important connectives  "of  the,"  "by  the,"  "manu- 
factured by,"  etc.,  unless  perchance  they  appear  fre- 
quently in  the  title  separating  almost  every  line  from 
its  neighbors,  when  if  used  this  treatment  would  appear 
to  be  broken  up. 

38.  Example  of  How  to  Lay  Out  and  Execute  the  Design. 

The  method  of  laying  out  a  group  title  should  be  the 


DESIGN  OF  LINES  /1ND  OF   TITLES.  63 

same  as  that  used  for  the  line  or  for  the  word,  but  it  is 
here  described  again  so  that  its  slight  variations  may- 
be thoroughly  understood. 

Plate  X  shows  the  way  to  proceed  in  the  development 
of  a  design.  Before  deciding  upon  the  style  of  alphabet 
or  alphabets  to  be  used,  separate  the  matter  of  the 
title  into  lines,  giving  the  connectives  each  a  separate 
line;  this  is  not  invariable,  however,  as  title  3,  line  c 
•on  Plate  XI,  shows,  or  the  same  subject  in  b  of  title  4. 
The  arrangement  is  shown  in  the  first  line  of  s  of  the 
plate,  together  with  an  approximate  estimate  of  the 
•center  of  each  of  the  lines. 

With  some  conception  now  of  the  general  make-up, 
sketch  with  very  brief  suggestive  treatment,  the  whole  title 
in  single-stroke  motive,  as  the  group  nimiber  2  on  the 
first  line  of  the  plate  shows.  To  allow  perfect  freedom, 
this  may  be  done  without  limiting  lines,  these  attached 
afterwards,  and  then  the  letters  trimmed  to  fit  them. 
The  limiting  lines  shown  on  the  plate  are  an  attempt 
to  suggest  this  kind  of  treatment. 

After  trimming  up  and  balancing,  as  was  described 
for  the  single-line  title,  the  effect  is  that  of  number  3. 
Here  the  proportions  of  the  letters  and  the  spacing 
have  been  determined  quite  accurately. 

Now  since  so  many  things  determine  the  effect  of 
the  lines,  it  is  well  to  experiment  on  the  treatment  to  be 
adopted  for  the  several  lines  as  shown  in  number  4.  The 
two  halves  of  the  title  on  a  vertical  division-line  shown 
in  number  3  might  be  treated  differently  and  afterwards 


64  FREE-HAND  LETTERING. 

a  choice  made  of  the  one  which,  upon  being  worked 
up  to  a  finish,  promises  the  best.  This  may  be  done 
in  pencil,  in  which  of  course  each  of  these  stages  de- 
scribed is  supposed  to  be  treated. 

Finally,  the  complete  title  is  shown  at  number  5, 
arrived  at  by  the  method  described  for  the  single-line 
title. 

The  above  is  a  comprehensive  method  of  designing, 
permitting  the  designer  complete  freedom  in  the  de- 
velopment of  his  motive.  No  designer  can  exactly  for- 
tell  his  result  so  that  he  can  begin  and  draw  each  line 
or,  further  still,  each  letter  carefully  from  the  beginning 
until  all  are  done. 

39.  A  Title  may  be  Variously  Treated. 

The  beginner  is  advised  to  practice  upon  the  possi- 
bilities of  variations  in  a  title  by  sketching  a  number 
of  layouts  roughly,  to  the  degree  of  finish  of  number  4, 
and  using  several  forms  of  titles,  then  to  pick  out  the 
best  one  or  several  upon  which  to  impart  a  careful 
finish. 

What  may  be  done  in  the  way  of  slightly  varying  the 
treatment  of  a  title  is  shown  on  Plate  XI.  In  i  and 
2  the  respective  lines  are  of  the  same  height,  and  the 
proportions  of  the  letters  also  are  the  same  except  in 
line  c.  The  difference  in  effect  and  of  the  prom- 
inence of  the  Hnes  is  accompHshed  by  weight  of  body 
alone.      Note  what   a   sHght   difference  is  really  made. 

In  3  the  whole  scheme  of  the  title  is  different.     A 


DESIGN  OF  LINES  AND  OF  TITLES.  65 

change  in  size  of  letters  is  also  shown  on  the  same  line 
in  c,  yet,  because  of  the  difference  in  significance  of 
the  words,  it  is  appropriate.  It  is  true  that  "of"  in 
the  line  "City  of  Ithaca"  in  i  and  2  is  made  small,  but 
in  3  the  smaller  letters  of  line  c  occupy  more  space 
and  they  also  begin  the  line. 

Number  4  shows  an  arrangement  and  treatment 
suited  for  the  working  drawing  for  shop  use  when  the 
minimum  of  time  is  allowed;  it  is  such  a  form  as 
may  be  put  in  directly  in  ink  after  gaining  experience 
in  lettering.  The  difference  in  prominence  of  lines,  it 
will  be  noted,  is  effected  mainly  by  differences  in  heights 
of  letters ;  the  weight  is  that  of  the  single  stroke  of  the 
pen. 

Number  5  shows  also  an  offhand  treatment  where 
a  more  ornamental  letter  than  the  single-stroke  Gothic 
is  desired.  The  title  shows  visibly  the  ear-marks  of  the 
offhand  treatment.  Note  that  in  the  first  four  of  these 
the  same  style  and  treatment  of  letter  is  used,  yet  there 
is  no  lack  of  variety;  only  two  styles  of  letter  are  used 
in  5,  one  all  capitals  and  the  other  capitals  and  small 
letters  uniformly. 

Other  facsimile  reproductions  of  titles  are  shown  on 
Plates  XIII  and  XIV.  These  are  discussed  in  detail  in 
sec.  43. 


CHAPTER  V. 

LETTERING  FOR  VARIOUS  TECHNICAL  PURPOSES 
IXCLUDIXG  PHOTO-REPRODUCTIOX. 

40.  General  Statement. 

All  drawings  for  technical  purposes,  such  as  sur\-ey 
maps,  working  drawings,  and  the  Hke,  require  to  be 
lettered  to  some  extent,  sometimes  carefully  with  very 
great  finish,  in  other  cases  as  rapidly  as  possible  con- 
sistent with  legibiHty,  directions  and  data  even  being 
written  occasionally  when  the  draftsman  is  hiirried  in 
his  w^ork.  The  different  purposes  for  which  drawings 
are  made  control  the  character  of  the  lettering,  the 
different  professions  having  their  ovra  characteristics 
in  this  as  weU  as  in  that  of  the  treatment  of  the  drawing. 
In  the  large  drafting-rooms  of  manufacturing  estabhsh- 
ments,  a  certain  style  of  letter  is  apt  to  be  demanded 
on  all  drawings,  and  this  is  as  much  a  part  of  the  rules 
as  those  controlling  the  general  make-up,  conventions, 
etc.  The  following  summar\^  of  general  suggestions  may 
furnish  a  fitting  introduction  to  a  few  of  these  branches. 

41.  Lettering  on  Maps. 

The  sur\-ey  maps  made  by  civil  engineers,  of  which 
those  made  by  the  U.  S.  Coast  and  Geological  SuiA-eys 

66 


LETTERING  FOR   y/IRlOUS    TECHNICAL  PURPOSES.         67 

stand  as  the  best  patterns,  contain  lettering  which, 
although  plain,  is  yet  finely  executed  and  are  examples 
of  about  as  careful  lettering  as  are  to  be  found  any- 
where. Plates  XV  and  XVI,  giving  the  requirements 
and  conventions  of  the  U.  S.  Geological  Survey,  will 
serve  to  show  what  kind  of  work  this  is.  The  handling 
required  is  of  the  best  and  demands  very  careful  pre- 
liminary penciling.  When  maps,  such  as  these,  stand 
as  permanent  records  and  are  to  be  consulted  and  fol- 
lowed by  many  people  in  their  original  form  or  repro- 
duced in  an  engraving  (particularly  this  latter) ,  the  extra 
time  required  to  do  careful  work  is  compensated  for. 

Prof.  Jacoby  in  his  book  on  ' '  Plain  Lettering ' '  (pages 
66  and  67)  gives  some  very  useful  directions  with  regard 
to  map-drawing,  and  we  cannot  do  better  than  to  quote 
him: 

"The  position  of  the  various  names  should  be  so 
chosen  as  not  to  leave  any  doubt  as  to  where  each  be- 
longs. Names  of  places  are  preferably  put  immediately 
to  the  right  of  the  convention  which  designates  its 
location,  or  as  near  to  this  as  the  preceding  rule  and  the 
position  of  the  names  and  conventions  will  permit  with- 
out the  appearance  of  crowding.  They  are  all  arranged 
in  lines  parallel  to  the  lower  border  of  the  drawing." 

"The  names  of  divisions,  like  districts,  townships, 
counties,  and  states,  should  have  the  letters  spaced  to 
make  the  names  cover  the  larger  portion  of  the  division, 
the  lines  being  graceful  sweeping  curves  extending  in 
the  direction  of  the  greatest  length  and  placed  approx- 


68  FREE-HASD   LET TE RISC. 

imately  along  the  middle  of  the  width.  The  names 
of  commimications,  like  roads  or  canals,  and  those  of 
rivers  or  creeks  are  placed  by  their  sides,  the  spaces 
between  letters  and  words  being  considerably  iacreased, 
the  latter  proportionally  more  than  the  former.  If 
space  is  equally  available  on  both  sides,  the  letters  are 
placed  with  their  bases  towards  the  convention.  .  .  . 
A  ven.'  long  stream  or  line  of  communication  may  have 
its  name  repeated,  if  desirable,  at  different  portions  of 
its  length.  In  all  cases  the  lettering  shotild  be  arranged 
so  as  to  be  read  by  the  least  possible  change  ia  the 
position  of  the  observer  when  the  map  Hes  sqtiarely 
before  him.  The  spacing  of  letters  when  separated 
more  than  four  or  five  units  will  be  sufficiently  precise 
if  their  distances,   center  to  center,   are  the   same." 

42,  Architect's  Lettering. 

The  lettering  usual  on  architectural  drawings  is  of  a 
very  free  and  sometimes  artistic  sort,  is  qtaite  likely  also 
to  be  of  the  careless  rapidly  executed  styles  spoken  of 
before.  Xevj  Httle  time  is  spent  upon  the  lettering  of 
the  working  drawings;  Plate  X\'II  shjws  a  few  examples 
of  the  more  common  letter  forms  used  on  these  drawings, 
taken  from  the  authorities  whose  names  are  printed 
under  each.  A  certain  freedom  and  uniqueness  is 
noticeable ;  the  architect  is  largely  an  artist,  and  because 
of  this  abhors  the  rigidity  of  the  common  t}*pe  form 
of  letter;  letters,  for  him,  must  mould  themselves  to 
suit  his  fancy,   spreading  out,   exceeding  their  limiting 


LETTERING  FOR   l^ARIOUS   TECHNICAL  PURPOSES.         69 

lines   and   changing   shape,  the    same   freedom   that   is 
allowed  in  the  use  of  other  decorative  forms. 

A  favorite  with  architects  is  a  letter  on  the  order  of 
the  old  Roman,  shown  on  the  above-mentioned  plate, 
treated  in  outline  with  an  open  body,  the  serifs  freer 
and  wider  than  in  the  classic  form.  Another  letter 
much  used  is  that  illustrated  in  V  on  Plate  XXI. 

The  requisites  for  a  good  practical  architectural  letter 
like  those  in  common  use  may  be  described  as  extreme 
lightness  of  body,  legibility,  and  an  artistic  freedom  in 
shape  and  proportion. 

It  was  just  said  that  very  little  time  is  generally  spent 
upon  the  lettering  on  the  working  drawings.  These 
receive  much  less  care  than  the  assembled  elevations, 
but  this  does  not  negative  the  fact  that  it  is  experience 
which  begets  rapidity.  The  apparently  careless  letter 
is  apt  to  be  the  result  of  considerable  experience  and 
facility  with  the  pen.  The  nature  of  the  lettering  used 
en  architectural  drawings  does  not  differ  in  other  respects 
from  that  in  other  lines.  In  the  titles  to  the  assembled 
elevations  we  note  a  very  frequent  irregularity  in  shape, 
the  information  not  being  built  upon  a  central  line  of 
symmetry,  but  staggered  (see  Plate  XVIII).  Another 
form  very  popular  to-day  is  to  make  the  lettering  con- 
tinuous in  lines  of  equal  length,  as  also  shown  on  Plate 
XVIII. 

43.  Lettering  on  Working  Drawings  for  Manufacturing. 

The  character  of  the  lettering  used  on  working  draw- 


70  FREE-HASD  LETTERISG. 

ings  has  been  alread}'  described  in  sees.  2S  and  29. 
It  only  remains  to  call  attention  to  examples  and  to 
give  a  few  additional  practical  points. 

Plate  XII  shows  a  drawing  with  the  usual  descriptive 
lettering  attached,  consisting  mainly  of  dimension  figures. 
Clean  stead}^  strokes  in  this  are  essential  to  clearness. 
Letters  and  figures  should  not  be  made  so  small  as  to 
run  together  and  blurr.  If  a  small  figure  is  necessary, 
use  a  broad  one.  Where  cramped  for  space,  it  is  better 
to  place  the  figures  entirely  outside  of  that  space  and 
refer  them  to  it  by  a  free-hand  line  having  an  arrow-head 
on  the  end,  as  instanced  in  several  places  on  the  plate. 

Treatment  should  be  uniform  throughout  in  the 
following  way:  the  same  alphabet,  style,  size,  and 
proportion  of  letters  and  figures  should  prevail  if  possible 
and  imless  cramped  for  room  in  occasional  places.  All 
capitals  in  one  place  and  capitals  and  smaU  letters  in 
another  should  not  be  used  unless  the  intention  is  to 
make  a  certain  feature  more  prominent.  Capitals  and 
small  letters  probably  look  the  best  for  descriptive 
matter,  although  this  is  a  question  of  taste. 

If  the  usual  symbols  of  one  dash  for  feet  and  two  for 
inches  are  used,  the}'  should  be  large  enough  to  be  tmder- 
stood  clearh',  shotild  be  large  also  at  one  extremity, 
tapering  to  a  fine  point  at  the  other.  Separate  some- 
what the  figures  standing  for  feet  also  from  those  for 
inches  to  avoid  confusion.  It  is  quite  common  to 
dispense  with  the  S3'mbol  for  feet,  replacing  it  by  '"Ft." 
to  further  avoid  any  misunderstanding  of  the  figures. 


LETTERING  FOR   VARIOUS   TECHNICAL   PURPOSES.  71 

Two  limiting  lines  should  always  be  put  in  in  pencil 
where  as  much  as  a  word  or  more  is  to  be  spelled  out ; 
it  improves  the  appearance  where  there  is  lettering 
scattered  over  a  drawing;  separating  the  words  quite 
well  also  helps  the  appearance. 

Plates  XIII  and  XIV,  taken  from  original  sources, 
show  some  titles  treated  in  an  offhand  manner,  much 
as  the  lettering  on  Plates  VIII  and  IX,  and  are  what  are 
to  be  met  with  frequently  on  working  drawings.  They 
are  not,  however,  necessarily  recommended  as  good 
examples  to  follow  in  design.  They  are  more  fully 
discussed  in  sec.   57. 

44.  Lettering  for  Photo-reproduction. 

There  is  a  technique  of  lettering  for  photo-reproduc- 
tion which  deserves  some  attention.  In  the  first  place 
the  paper  used  should  be  very  smooth  so  that  the  edges 
of  all  strokes  are  clear;  if  possible  choose  a  stiff  paper 
which  is  either  clear  white  or  bluish  white ;  the  yellow 
tinted  papers  do  not  give  as  good  results.  Tracing-cloth 
can  be  used  also  when  necessar}^  Erasures  have  to  be 
made  very  carefully  whether  on  the  paper  or  on  the 
cloth,  in  order  to  avoid  irregular  lines,  but  there  is  one 
aid  possible  which  cannot  be  used  in  general  drawing, 
namely,  Chinese  white  for  cutting  out  or  trimming  up. 
The  water-proof  black  ink  is  the  best  for,  if  Chinese  white 
is  used  to  trim  with,  the  black  will  not  be  drawn  into  it, 
giving  blurred  edges.  The  penciling  should  be  very 
light  and  easily  erased,  because,  if  left  on  the  drawing, 


72  FREE-HAND  LETTERING. 

it  is  apt  to  be  reproduced  together  with  the  ink-lines 
and  has  to  be  routed  out  by  the  engraver. 

Theoretically,  the  greater  the  reduction,  the  clearer 
and  sharper  w*ill  be  the  result,  but  in  practice  this  is  not 
realized.  If  there  are  ver>^  fine  lines  present,  these,  on 
great  reduction,  will  break  and  appear  ragged;  also,  if 
lines  are  very  closely  spaced,  they  are  apt  to  run  together ; 
it  has  become  the  general  custom  of  draftsmen,  there- 
fore, to  work  for  a  one-half  reduction,  meaning  that  the 
result  is  to  be  one-half  the  width  or  the  height  of  the 
original.  Occasionally  drawings  are  made  for  a  one- 
third  reduction,  meaning  that  the  result  is  to  be  two- 
thirds  of  the  length  of  the  origiaal.  This  is  a  matter 
optional  with  draftsmen,  however. 

There  are  two  general  processes  for  reproducing  line 
drawings,  the  photo-lithographic  and  the  zinc  etching. 
The  former  is  an  imprint  made  upon  and  printed  directly 
from  stone.  The  latter  is  made  b}^  photographing  the 
subject  upon  a  sensitized  zinc  plate  and  subjecting  it 
to  the  action  of  weak  acid  which  eats  away  the  zinc 
where  the  lines  are,  forming  the  matrix  for  a  copper 
deposit,  which  last  becomes  the  plate  when  further 
prepared.  The  photo-Hthographic  process  will,  by  its 
directness,  give  a  clearer,  finer  result,  but  it  is  only 
suitable  for  a  relatively  small  number  of  impressions, 
whereas  the  zinc  process  can  be  made  to  reproduce 
almost  indefinite^. 

Plate  XIX  is  intended  to  illustrate  some  of  the  pecu- 
liarities of  reproduction  by  the  zinc  process.     Two  lines 


LETTERING  FOR   VARIOUS   TECHNICAL  PURPOSES.         73 

of  lettering  are  reduced  to  two  different  sizes.  The 
letters  R  and  E  in  the  right-hand  comer,  one  from 
each  of  the  above  lines,  are  reproduced  the  exact  size 
of  the  original,  showing,  among  other  things,  what  a 
large  reduction  was  made.  Both  were  made  with 
water-proof  ink  and  a  brush  without  any  careful  pre- 
liminary penciling.  For  certain  kinds  of  reproduction 
this  is  an  excellent  plan  to  follow,  because  much  freedom 
of  handling  on  a  large  scale  can  be  indulged  in  without 
sacrifice  in  the  result.  Slight  irregularities  in  lines  on 
a  large  scale  are  lessened  by  great  reduction. 

For  general  work,  however,  the  example  at  the  left 
hand  of  the  sheet  show^s  the  difficulties  encountered. 
Letters  should  not  be  drawn  for  a  reduction  which  is  to 
be  less  than  one  thirty-second  of  an  inch  high,  for  they 
are  apt  to  blur  in  parts,  nor  should  lines  which  are 
parallel  be  spaced  so  as  to  reduce  to  less  than  one  sixty- 
fourth  of  an  inch  apart,  for  similar  reasons. 

Where  there  are  marked  differences  in  weight  of  lines 
on  a  drawing  it  will  be  noticed  that  the  reproduction 
does  not  preserve  the  relative  thicknesses ;  the  finer  lines 
will  be  relatively  coarser  than  the  original.  In  drawing 
then,  for  reproduction  the  draftsman  should  calculate 
the  effect  which  his  work  will  have  when  reduced;  a 
certain  coarseness  of  treatment  should  be  observed 
consistent  with  the  scale  of  the  reduction ;  fine  lines 
should  be  made  coarser  than  if  they  are  to  be  repro- 
duced the  original  size.  Only  practice  can  be  depended 
upon  to  give  knowledge  of  the  complete  requirements. 


74  FREEH  AS D  LETTERING. 

The  plate  shows  ver\-  clearly  the  effects  of  reduction 
upon  certain  faults  of  handling.  Filled-in  comers  is  one 
of  them  and  unevenness  of  lines  is  another.  The  plate 
also  shows  how  directions  for  reduction  are  specified  to 
the  engraver.  It  is  best  to  give  a  specific  size  to  which  a 
drawing  is  to  be  reduced,  and  this  in  inches,  because 
the  engraver  can  then  measure  the  same  upon  the 
ground-glass  plate  of  his  camera.  Otherwise  he  would 
have  to  figure  out  the  size  to  make  liis  negative,  and 
this  gives  an  opportimity  for  error. 

If  a  drawing  is  reproduced,  it  is  often  found  conve- 
nient not  to  do  any  lettering,  but  in  its  stead  to  have  the 
letters  stamped  on,  or  letters  which  are  already  printed 
cut  out  and  pasted  on  in  the  proper  places.  It  is  a 
great  saving  of  time  in  some  cases. 

45.  Lettering  for  Patent  Office  Drawing. 

Drav.ings  accompanying  applications  for  patents  in 
the  U.  S.  Patent  Office  require  to  be  lettered  with 
reference  letters,  occasionally  with  brief  descriptive 
matter.  The  rules  governing  the  making  of  the  draw- 
ings are  in  some  respects  qtiite  strict.  The  following 
quotation  from  the  "  Rules  of  Practice "  revised  Jan.  2, 
1903,  covers  the  matter  of  lettering: 

■  ■  Letters  and  figures  of  reference  must  be  carefully 
formed.  They  should,  if  possible,  measure  at  least 
one-eighth  of  an  inch  in  height,  so  that  they  may  bear 
reduction  to  one  twenty-fotuth  of  an  inch;  and  they 
may  be  much  larger  when  there  is  sufficient  room.     They 


LETTERING  FOR   VARIOUS   TECHNICAL  PURPOSES.  75 

must  be  so  placed  in  the  close  and  complex  parts  of  the 
drawing  as  not  to  interfere  with  a  thorough  comprehen- 
sion of  the  same,  and  therefore  should  rarely  cross  or 
mingle  with  the  lines.  When  necessarily  grouped  aroimd 
a  certain  part,  they  should  be  placed  at  a  little  distance 
where  there  is  available  space,  and  connected  by  short 
broken  lines  with  the  parts  to  which  they  refer.  They 
must  never  appear  upon  shaded  surfaces,  and  when  it 
is  difficult  to  avoid  this,  a  blank  space  must  be  left  in 
the  shading  where  the  letter  occurs,  so  that  it  shall  appear 
perfectly  distinct  and  separate  from  the  w^ork." 

The  large  reduction  of  drawings  to  a  size  appropriate 
for  the  pages  of  the  "Gazette,"  i.e.,  to  about  3"  wide, 
demands  a  very  bold  legible  letter.  The  style  which  is 
used  by  the  U.  S.  Patent  Office  draftsmen  when  they 
prepare  drawings  for  inventors  is  the  stump  form  shown 
on  Plate  V,  with  capitals  like  6  on  Plate  IX.  The  stand- 
ard set  by  these  is  followed  largely  in  outside  practice. 
A  bold-face  letter  stands  the  reduction  better  than  the 
single-stroke  Gothic,  and  some  form  of  graded  stroke 
letter  is  therefore  more  appropriate  than  this. 

46.  Lettering  for  Advertising  Purposes. 

This  form  of  lettering  calls  for  discussion  briefly,  and 
chiefly  to  emphasize  the  fact  that  good  lettering  is  very 
plain  and  simple.  Plate  XX  is  introduced  to  illustrate 
this  concretely.  It  was  stated  in  sec.  i  that  the  best 
examples  of  lettering  to-day  are  to  be  foimd  among 
advertisements.     It   is   here   that   the   problem  is  pre- 


76  FREE-HAND  LETTERING. 

sented  very  forcibly  to  make  a  strong  impression 
upon  the  reader  by  catching  his  attention  quickly  and 
saying  much  in  little  space.  Notice  what  very  plain 
letters  are  used  in  most  of  the  examples  on  this  plate,  yet 
on  the  other  hand  what  freedom  and  scope  is  allowed 
in  them. 

Illustrations  A,  C,  and  F  contain  some  of  the  very 
simplest,  plainest  letters,  yet  in  A  notice  how  the 
slight  variation  from  the  Gothic  imparts  a  new  in- 
terest to  the  letters.  In  C  the  style  is  very  similar  to 
the  offhand  style  shown  on  Plate  VIII ;  its  prominence 
consists  in  the  proportions  of  small  letters  to  capitals 
and  in  the  compactness  of  the  line.  It  was  drawn  to 
show  how  a  large  amount  of  matter  might  be  put  in  a 
small  space,  yet  by  italicizing  it  its  prominence,  in  the 
midst  of  other  verv^  prominent  lettering,  will  permit  it 
to  hold  its  own  thoroughly  and  tell  its  story  without 
interference.  The  A  by  its  black  ground  and  bold 
white  face  is  striking  and  is  well  adapted  to  mag- 
azines, w^here  it  has  to  compete  with  other  claimants 
for  attention.  The  letter  used  in  B  is  based  on  the 
antique  Roman  shown  on  Plate  XXIII.  The  antique 
Roman,  together  with  such  variations  of  which  this  is  an 
example,  are  favorites  with  designers  to-day.  In  D 
will  be  recognized  an  old  form  of  letter  belonging  to  the 
much  ornamented  class  we  used  to  see,  and  in  fact  do 
yet,  in  the  imported  books  of  alphabets.  As  shown 
here  it  is  modernized,  however,  and  several  forms  of 
ornamental   adjimcts   are   suggested   as   appropriate   to 


LETTERING  FOR   V/IRIOUS   TECHNICAL  PURPOSES.         77 

go  with  it.     These  last  are  of  more  use  when  the  letters 
are  to  be  reproduced  in  color  by  lithography. 

The  design  feature  in  the  first  four  illustrations  con- 
sists chiefly  in  arranging  the  matter  in  the  allowed  space 
with  the  maximum  of  effect.  But  this  is  in  itself  no 
mean  task,  and  likewise  it  is  not  a  mean  one  to  make 
appropriately  the  slight  variations  from  the  standard 
forms  used,  which  alter  quite  noticeably  the  effect  of 
the  several  lines  from  what  they  would  be  if  straight  let- 
ters were  employed.  The  Gothic  Irtters,  probably  first, 
and  the  Roman  next  form  largely  the  basis  for  advertis- 
ing lettering.  The  interested  reader  is  asked  to  notice 
this  in  the  examples  w^hich  come  under  his  attention 
daily;  the  slight  variations  found  do  not  hide  the 
type  form.  The  illustrations  E  and  F  are  introduced 
to  show  how  the  advertising  lettering  may  take  upon 
itself  the  characteristics  of  ornamentation.  As  a  general 
rule,  ornamental  lettering  has  a  very  limited  use  in  ad- 
vertising ;  E  shows  about  the  length  to  which  the  fanci- 
ful may  be  carried,  even  this  to  no  considerable  extent, 
for  it  is  not  highly  legible.  It  ought  to  be  explained 
here  that  the  illustration  was  purposely  placed  across 
the  page  so  that  the  neighboring  lettering  through  bold- 
ness would  not  detract  from  its  legibility  and  interest. 
In  F  we  have  also  ornamentation,  but  mainly  of  the 
surroundings  of  the  letters  rather  than  of  the  letters 
themselves.  It  shows  a  kind  of  imique  "layout"  and 
suitable  for  lithographic  and  newspaper  work,  where  we 
see  it  illustrated  very  frequently.     In   these   last  two 


78  FREE-HAND  LETTERING. 

illustrations  it  is  evident  that  the  artist  and  designer  is 
necessary  in  order  to  do  the  work  in  hand;  in  no  class 
of  lettering  is  there,  in  all  of  its  phases  taken  together, 
so  much  freedom  allowed  the  draftsman,  in  scheming  out 
his  effects,  as  in  advertising ;  the  fact  that  the  bulk  of  it 
is  composed  of  very  plain  letters  is  a  testimonial  to  their 
value,  and  the  student  should  realize  that  design,  in 
lettering  at  least,  does  not  consist  in  ornamentation,  but 
rather  in  a  nice  fitting  of  means  to  ends,  the  end  always 
containing  legibility  as  one  of  its  chief  requisites. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

THE  DESIGN  OF  LETTERING. 

47.  General  Statement. 

Some  of  our  best  brush  artists  do  not  consider  it 
beneath  their  dignity  to  occasionally  design  groups  of 
lettering;  they  would  not  do  this  if  they  did  not  con- 
sider it  as  a  worthy  field  for  the  expression  of  their 
fancy,  or  that  letter  forms  were  so  rigidly  fixed  that 
they  had  but  to  scale  them  and  their  spaces.  Artists 
have  a  keen  sense  of  values  and  are  strongly  opposed  to 
mechanical  treatment.  An  inspection  of  some  of  their 
first-class  work  will  show  how  the  fancy  has  scope  both 
in  proportioning  and  spacing  even  when  rather  simple 
letter  forms  are  used.*  The  beauty  of  the  work  is  at 
once  apparent  in  its  ensemble,  the  nicety  of  relation 
between  the  letters  and  space  areas  making  a  piece  of 
lettering  as  much  a  unit  as  a  piece  of  floral  design  can  be. 
Artistic  sense  and  the  ability  to  design  is  something 
which  cannot  be  easily  taught,  it  must  come  inspiration- 
ally  from  within;  the  teaching  which  can  be  done  does 
not   lead   to   conformity   to   rules   or  rigid   limitations; 

*  See    Frank    Chateau    Brown's    "  Letters    and    Lettering,"    for 
examples. 

79 


So  FREE-H/iND  LETTERING. 

only  suggestions  can  be  given  for  the  apt  to  apply, 
adding  their  own  originality  and  initiative.  It  is  pro- 
posed, therefore,  to  collect  here  a  few  hints  in  the  matter 
of  designing  letters  which  may,  perhaps,  not  only  be 
helpful  to  those  who  intend  to  design,  but  an  inspiration 
to  those  who  will  be  more  mechanical  and  rigid  in  their 
treatment,  showing  them  how  helpful  is  the  attitude  of 
the  artist  and  how  much  latitude  is  allowed  the  designer. 
Nothing  more  than  suggestions  are  possible. 

48.  Single-stroke  Gothic  may  be  Taken  as  the  Basis  for 
All  Design. 
In  designing  lettering  to  fill  a  given  space,  it  is  abso- 
lutely necessarv',  as  a  fundamental  requisite,  to  treat  the 
space  in  some  such  comprehensive  manner  as  was  out- 
lined in  the  beginning  of  the  book  for  a  word  or  a  line 
of  words.  The  proper  proportioning  of  wording  to 
space  available,  so  that  the  space  areas  may  be  uniformly 
or  appropriately  distributed,  is  the  very  first  considera- 
tion, and  may  be  outlined  somewhat  irrespective  of  the 
style  of  letter  to  be  adopted;  indeed  the  requirements 
of  ratio  of  letter  area  to  space  area  may  be  the  determin- 
ing factor  as  to  what  style  of  letter  should  be  used. 
The  space  must  be  taken  as  a  unit  and,  considered  as  a 
whole,  that  layout  or  distribution  made  which  com- 
prehends the  final  result  in  each  stroke.  In  lieu  of  a 
more  definite  conception,  single-stroke  Gothic  letters 
may  be  used  with  which  to  lay  out  this  basis  of  the 
design.     It  is  a  very  simple,   easily  made  form,  and  a 


THE  DESIGN  OF  LETTERING.  8l 

number  of  tentative  layouts  can  be  made  with  it, 
choosing  the  best  from  among  the  number  for  finishing. 
The  style  or  type  of  letter  may  next  be  chosen  which 
will  best  fill  out  the  skeleton  form  of  the  Gothic.  The 
lettering  in  the  space  may  be  conveniently  divided 
into  masses  also  and  each  mass  treated  separately,  but, 
generally  speaking,  the  method  of  design  must  be  com- 
prehensive ;  the  designing  cannot  begin  with  a  complete 
finish  at  the  top,  proceeding  little  by  little  in  the  same 
manner  to  the  bottom,  for,  if  so  treated,  the  result  will 
inevitably  lack  unity. 

49.  The  Preservation  of  Type  Style. 

In  designing  letters,  that  is,  in  originating  forms  or  in 
modifying  the  existing  well-known  types,  uniformity  in 
the  style  must  be  observed  as  a  prime  requisite.  Those 
who  have  studied  carefully  the  earlier  pages  of  the 
book  will  understand  what  type  style  means,  but  a 
few  additional  explanatory  words  may  be  appropriate. 
The  Gothic  letter  has  a  body  of  uniform  thickness ;  any 
change  in  the  way  of  proportion,  thickness  of  the  uniform 
body,  and  so  on,  is  in  order,  but  as  soon  as  different 
parts  of  the  letter  body  are  made  of  different  weights, 
there  is  a  characteristic  change  in  the  letter  which  must 
be  accompanied  by  a  corresponding  change  in  all  the 
letters  of  the  set  used  in  the  design.  The  Roman- 
Gothic  letter  on  Plate  XXII  may  be  pointed  out  as 
coming  under  this  class;  it  has  the  characteristics  of 
both  of  these  styles.     Now,  were  spurs  to  be  added  to  a 


82  FREE-H/IND  LETTERING. 

T  or  an  L  in  the  last-mentioned  alphabet,  it  would  be 
necessary  to  add  the  serifs  complete  in  all  the  letters, 
else  an  incongruity  in  the  lettering  would  be  at  once 
apparent  to  even  the  uninitiated ;  it  would  be  as  striking 
an  incongruity  as  dotting  a  capital  I  or  mixing  in  small 
letters  where  capitals  prevail.  An  embellishment  or 
modification  in  the  stem  of  any  letter  must  therefore  be 
accompanied  by  a  like  change  in  all  the  letters  of  the 
set ;  similarly  a  swelled  body  letter  like  S  or  G,  as  in  the 
Roman,  requires  all  the  curved  forms  to  xsLiy  in  weight 
alike.  With  these  points  upon  the  type  style,  the 
student  may  be  assisted  in  supplying  the  letters  variously 
missing  in  the  alphabets  shown  throughout  the  plates. 
Frank  Chateau  Brow^n,  in  his  book  before  referred  to, 
presents  the  matter  of  type  style  very  clearly  when  he 
says:  "An  important  consideration  in  the  design  of  an 
alphabet  ...  is  that  the  letters  should  be  systematic- 
ally treated.  .  .  .  There  is  no  reason  why  we  should  not 
cross  the  breed  in  lettering,  if  thereby  we  can  improve 
the  stock.  An  alphabet,  however,  should  not  look 
hybrid.  The  artist  is  free  to  do  what  he  can,  but  the 
test  of  success  is  that  his  creation  should  look  as  if  it 
must  be  so,  and  could  not  have  been  otherwise.  .  .  . 
Each  and  every  letter  of  an  alphabet,  also,  is  susceptible 
to  such  modification  in  shape  as  may  make  it  best  suit 
the  space  left  for  it  by  its  neighbors."  Again,  in  the 
matter  of  design  in  general:  "AVhy,  it  is  asked,  should 
the  artist  trouble  himself  about  a  hand-drawn  letter, 
when  he  has   ready  to  his  use  type,  which  is  so  much 


THE  DESIGN  OF  LETTERING.  83 

truer  and  more  perfect  ?  Truer,  perhaps,  it  may  be,  in  the 
sense  of  being  more  mathematically  exact,  but  it  is  not 
necessarily  as  truly  uniform  in  effect ;  for  the  tinyielding 
letters  of  the  type-founder  come  together  as  best  they 
may,  and  if  they  come  awkwardly  he  can't  help  it. 
The  designer  can,  and  indeed  he  should." 

50.  The  Old  Roman  Letter. 

As  affording  suggestions  for  the  beginner  in  designing, 
attention  is  called  to  a  careful  comparison  of  the  Roman 
letter  as  shown  on  Plate  I  and  the  Old  Roman,  so  called, 
on  Plate  XXIII.  If  the  student  has  access  to  various 
authorities  for  this  letter,  he  will  be  able  to  note  quite 
considerable  variety  in  them.  This  form  is,  as  has  been 
already  mentioned,  a  very  common  and  popular  one 
to-day  and  is  a  good  starting-point  for  the  designer. 
Notice  wherein  the  two  alphabets  differ.  In  the  transi- 
tion from  the  one  to  the  other  there  may  be  an  infinite 
variety  in  the  forms.  Notice,  too,  what  a  smooth  and 
graceful  letter  the  Old  Roman  is  as  compared  with  the 
present-day  type-letter.  Note  the  reasons  for  this: 
serifs  are  large;  there  is  a  lack  of  rigidity  in  the  forms, 
that  is,  there  is  a  wide  variation  relatively  in  the  widths 
of  the  letters ;  the  free  swash-tails  of  letters  like  R  and  Q 
are  prolonged  into  graceful  curves,  overstepping  the 
rectangular  boimdaries  of  the  letters;  the  upper  and 
lower  parts  of  B,  K,  R,  S  are  quite  dissimilar  in  size, 
breaking  up  symmetry  while  not  entirely  destroying  it. 
From  this  letter  it  is  a  very  easy  step  to  the  freer  form 


84  FREE-HAND  LETTERING. 

of  line  2  on  Plate  XXI.  One  does  not  find,  the  Old 
Roman  small  letters  illustrated  as  often  as  the  capitals, 
partly  because  the  small  letters  came  into  use  later. 
The  lowest  Une  of  the  plate  gives  examples  of  different 
forms  of  letters  of  this  alphabet  which  are  to  be  met 
with,  and  by  an  obser\^ance  of  type  style  one  is  able  to 
see  how  the  various  modifications  apph'  to  the  other 
letters  of  the  alphabet. 

The  Old  Roman  may  be  either  heaw-faced  or  hght- 
faced,  that  is,  the  ratio  between  the  hea^'^"  and  the  Hght 
strokes  may  vary  between  wide  limits.  Lines  4  and  5 
on  Plate  XXI  show  how  the}"  appear  when  Hght. 

51.  The  Effect  of  Chan^ng  Proportions  and  Spacing. 

A  very  decided  total  change  may  be  imparted  to  a 
given  piece  of  lettering  through  simply  a  change  in  the 
proportions  of  letters,  weight  of  body,  and  spacing, 
while  keeping  the  same  style  throughout.  This  is 
exemplified  even  in  the  more  rigid  titles  of  Plate  XI. 
Any  desired  contrast  can  be  obtained  between  the 
several  lines.  Often  in  advertisements  may  be  seen  one 
word  only,  or  one  word  followed  by  a  line  of  but  few 
words  of  plain  stv^le,  strong  and  vigorous  in  their  effect, 
the  relation  of  body  to  space  areas  in  the  first  case, 
and  the  contrast  in  the  size  and  proportions  of  letters 
in  the  second,  being  the  chief  design  features.  As  to  the 
influence  of  these  features  relative  to  each  other  no 
principles  of  value  can  be  given;  there  are  so  many 
variables    and    differing    conditions    that    experiment 


THE  DESIGN  OF  LETTERING.  85 

alone  can  determine  the  effect  desired.  It  would  afford 
an  interesting  exercise  for  the  student  to  design  a  few 
groups,  using  the  same  material  and  varying  it  after 
such  a  manner,  experimenting  upon  the  differences  in 
effect  obtainable. 

52.  Other  Considerations  in  Design. 

In  taking  one  of  the  familiar  type  forms  to  modify  or 
act  as  a  basis  for  design  of  letters,  the  chief  object  is  to 
add  interest  to  the  letters  and  increase  the  prominence. 
Embellishment  or  ornamentation  will  do  this,  but  only 
up  to  a  certain  point.  If  it  is  carried  too  far,  the  interest 
is  destroyed  because  the  letters  become  less  legible. 
This  does  not  mean  that  shapes  of  letters  cannot  be 
varied  through  quite  wide  limits ;  it  is  safe  to  do  this  as 
long  as  the  characteristics  of  the  letters  are  preserved. 

Additions  to  the  outsides  of  letters,  in  the  way  of 
scrolls,  ornaments,  shade-lines,  lines  to  suggest  a  solid 
letter  standing  in  space,  should  be  sparingly  used; 
they  are  of  doubtful  value  as  designs,  particularly  the  last. 
Chief  interest  resides  in  a  letter  which  has  a  pleasing 
shape  in  itself  without  extraneous  ornamentation. 
Shade-lines,  however,  are  probably  more  common  than 
any  other  form  of  finish;  rightly  used  they  do  add  a 
certain  easily  obtained  prominence;  notice  the  letter  a 
of  Masters  of  Plate  XX.  As  an  example  of  what  a 
slight  variation  of  a  fundamental  type  form  may  do 
in  the  way  of  adding  interest,  note  line  7  of  Plate  XXI. 
This  is  a  very  slight  variation  from  the  Gothic  letter 


86  FREE-HAND  LETTERING. 

shown  on  Plate  II.     Also  note  line  3  of  Plate  VII  as  a 
similar  variation  of  Gothic. 

Ornamentation  may  take  the  shape  of  extraneous 
features  just  mentioned,  varying  the  contour  shapes 
and  directions  of  stems  of  letters,  or  of  embellishing 
the  body  of  stems,  within  the  contour.  The  last  is  a 
form  of  ornamentation  but  little  used  in  this  country  to- 
day, and  is  to  be  sharply  distinguished  from  that  illus- 
trated in  imported  books  of  alphabets.  On  Plate  XX 
in  the  word  Actor  we  see  an  example  of  how  modem 
ornamentation  runs  when  it  is  used.  The  ornament 
has  very  little  characteristic  interest  of  its  own,  but  only 
as  it  lends  a  variety  to  the  body  of  the  letters ;  in  other 
words,  it  does  not  partake  of  the  floral  or  scroll  form. 
Could  any  addition  in  the  way  of  ornamentation  improve 
the  word  "Power"  in  the  first  example  on  the  plate? 
The  answer  is  likely  to  be  that  its  force  would  be  de- 
stroyed if  it  were  ornamented. 

In  choosing  an  ornamental  letter  for  a  design  the 
artist's  taste  in  fitting  the  letter  to  its  purpose  is  the 
only  safe  rule.  Ornamentation  makes  interest,  but 
at  the  sacrifice,  generally,  of  force.  Design  letter- 
ing, it  is  true,  may  in  itself  consist  of  ornament,  that 
is,  the  piece  of  work  when  done  may  consist  of  orna- 
ment in  which  the  letters  can  properly  be  subservient  and 
not  necessarily  Yery  legible ;  they  need  to  be  unravelled 
like  other  intricacies  of  the  design.  The  discussion  of 
this  highly  artistic  class  of  lettering,  however,  is  not 
properly  within  the  scope  of  this  work. 


THE  DESIGN  OF  LETTERING.  87 

Between  the  extremely  plain  advertising  letteiing 
and  the  ornamental  lettering  just  spoken  of  there  are 
infinite  grades,  and  each  should  be  suited  to  its  require- 
ments. 

As  to  varying  the  contour  shapes  and  directions  of 
stems  of  letters  also,  there  is  almost  no  limit  except  that 
set  by  the  requirements  of  legibility  and  the  preserva- 
tion of  type  style,  and  this  is  the  field  in  which  the  be- 
ginner is  encouraged  to  practice  at  first  in  assaying 
design.  As  examples  of  a  few  of  the  more  conservative 
variations  of  this  character,  note  the  alphabets  shown  on 
Plates  XVII  and  XXI;  these  will  afford  suggestions  for 
him.  These  variations,  further,  in  addition  to  pre- 
senting type  style,  cannot  be  concerned  alone  with  the 
single  isolated  letter,  but  should  lend  unity  to  the  effect 
of  whatever  is  comprehended  in  the  line ;  simply  pro- 
longing the  free  ends  of  letters,  for  example,  the  H,  N> 
etc.,   at  random,    does  not   constitute   design. 

53.  Open-  and  Closed-body  Letters. 

A  form  of  letter  often  used,  particularly  by  beginners, 
is  an  open-body  letter  like  4  on  Plate  XVIII  or  as  the 
word  Actor  on  Plate  XX  would  be  without  the  varia- 
tion within  its  contour.  There  seems  to  exist  an  im- 
pression that  it  is  easy  to  make.  As  a  form  to  use 
in  design  it  is  very  useful  if  properly  applied,  but  it  is  a 
mistake  to  think  that  it  is  easily  drawn  when  done 
well ;  it  is  one  of  the  difficult  forms,  because  both  sides 
of  the  contour  line  have  to  be  considered  in  the  drawing. 


88  FREE-HAND  LETTERING. 

It  is  not  by  any  means  as  strong  in  effect,  unless 
color  be  used,  as  a  solid-body  letter  of  equal  weight 
would  be;  therefore  in  using  it  among  this  latter  class 
due  account  has  to  be  taken  of  this  fact.  But  if  time 
in  execution  is  ample,  most  excellent  combinations 
with  black-faced  letters  can  be  made,  and  a  group  of 
such  lettering  possesses  more  interest  than  one  with 
either  used  alone. 

54.  The  Limitations  of  Letters. 

Letter  forms  are  not  standard  and  fixed,  but  they 
have,  on  the  other  hand,  certain  more  or  less  well  defined 
limits,  governed  by  usage  and  pubHc  demands,  as  much 
as  anything  else,  which  it  is  well  for  the  designer  to  keep 
clearly  in  mind  and  respect  if  he  wishes  to  be  success- 
ful in  his  results. 

The  presers'ation  of  type  style  and  legibility  are  two 
of  these  Emits.  A  violation  of  these  is  equally  as  of- 
fensive as  bad  handling.  It  requires  some  knowledge, 
however,  of  letter  forms  in  general  to  be  thoroughly  con- 
versant with  the  conditions  governing  type  style.  Slight 
violations  of  this  may  not  be  noticed  by  the  iminitiated 
and  classified  as  such,  but  it  is  quite  hkety  to  give  to 
him  a  general  impression  of  weakness  in  the  design. 

Letters  have  a  certain  character  too,  each  its  own. 
In  all  the  variations  which  may  be  indulged  in  this  must 
be  preser\"ed.  Let  us  be  specific.  Take  a  Gothic  A  to 
start  with.  We  find  the  top  cut  off  a  Httle ;  we  also  find 
it  still  further  squared  off,  as  the  A  in  the  word  2^Ias- 


THE  DESIGN  OF  LETTERING.  89 

ters  of  Plate  XX  or  No.  7  on  Plate  XXI ;  but  if  the  top  is 
broadened  too  far,  relative  to  the  spread  of  the  legs,  the 
character  of  the  letter  is  destroyed,  it  ceases  to  appear 
to  be  an  A.  Again,  take  C ;  the  curve  may  be  flattened 
and  the  ends  cut  off  shorter  and  shorter,  as  the  C  in 
the  word  essence  of  Plate  XX,  but  it  is  still  a  C, 
whereas  if  the  round  form  is  kept  but  the  ends  of  the 
curves  be  allowed  to  overlap  each  other,  the  character 
is  gone,  it  ceases  to  be  a  legible  C.  Consider  the  case 
of  enlarging  the  serifs  on  a  Roman  letter,  before  alluded 
to.     Fig.   9  shows  how  the  whole  character  of  the  letter 

Fig.9 

ALTER 
ALTER 

is  changed  by  making  the  serifs  tangent  to  the  stems 
further  down  their  length.  It  is  shown  in  two  stages  of 
evolution.  The  low^er  line  is  no  longer  the  Roman 
letter.  Certain  considerations,  such  as  these,  govern  all 
letters,  and  they  even  extend  their  influence  into  the 
realm   of   ornamental   design  lettering. 

There  are  certain  limits,  too,  beyond  which  letters 
will  be  weakened,  a  certain  strength  of  character  gone. 
Strong  contrasts  between  sizes  or  weights  of  body  in 
groups  of  letters  will  tend  to  weaken  some  of  them, 
whereas,  if  used  alone,  they  might  not  be  weak.     Stability 


90  FREE-H/iND   LETTERING. 

in  the  shape  of  individual  letters,  before  spoken  of,  has 
its  limits,  and  if  exceeded  conduces  to  weakness  in  the 
effect;  for  example,  the  cross-bar  of  the  H  ma}^  be 
elevated  to  an}'  reasonable  extent  above  the  center, 
but  the  moment  it  is  lowered  it  becomes  weakened. 
Again,  take  the  B,  by  making  the  lower  lobe  the 
smaller,  a  weaker  letter  is  sure  to  result;  its  one  Hmit 
then  hes  in  the  fact  that  the  lower  lobe  must  be  equal 
to  or  greater  than  the  upper. 

The  limit  set  in  varying  the  proportions  of  letters, 
together  with  weight  of  body  and  that  set  in  spacing, 
has  been  before  stated  to  be  that  of  legibility.  The 
author  remembers  an  old  form  of  puzzle  consisting  of 
words  elongated  in  height  to  many  times  their  width 
and  printed  over  each  other  at  right  angles.  If  one 
inclines  the  printed  matter  so  that  it  is  foreshortened, 
then  it  can  be  read.  Letters  should  be  readable  without 
inclining  the  page.  Spacing  can  be  reduced  to  the  width 
of  a  fine  line  provided  the  letters  do  not  touch  each 
other  and  thus  destroy  legibility,  the  exception  to  be 
noted  of  course  in  the  case  of  ornamental  and  designed 
letters  such  as  those  on  Plate  XVIII. 


i.     '''•■ 


CHAPTER  VII. 

MECHANICAL   AIDS  TO    LETTERING. 

55.  General  Statement. 

While  the  correct  way  to  letter  satisfactorily  is  un- 
doubtedly free-hand,  yet  mechanical  treatment  may 
be  sometimes  necessary,  or  the  draftsman,  not  having 
experience  enough  or  skill  in  free-hand  work,  finds  him- 
self compelled  to  resort  to  mechanical  treatment. 

Quite  a  good  deal  of  effort  has  been  expended  in 
devising  handy  means  of  laying  out  letters  mechanically. 
They  are  fairly  successful  for  the  purpose,  it  must  be 
confessed.  The  construction  of  certain  alphabets  in 
Prof.  Jacoby's  book  can  be  very  easily  followed,  although 
he  himself  advocates  rendering  them  free-hand.  The 
trouble  with  these  various  methods  is  that  they  fail 
signally  when  letters  are  to  be  made  quite  small,  as  they 
generally  are  in  practical  work. 

Aids    mechanically  may   take    several   forms.     The 

letters  may  be  laid  out  with  the  rule  and  compass  in 

pencil,  copied  in  ink,  or  they  may  be  sketched  free-hand 

in  pencil  and  copied  mechanically,  or,  still  further,  the 

letters  may  be  stamped  from  rubber  stamp  or  printing' 

press  and  worked  over  with  ink  free-hand. 

91 


92  FREE-HAKD  LETTERING. 

56.  Practical  Points  about  Executing  a  Ruled  Letter. 

A  method  of  lettering  by  mechanical  treatment  but 
with  least  dependence  upon  the  instruments  is  to  lay 
out  the  work  free-hand  in  pencil,  inking  it  with  the  ruling- 
pen  and  compass;  it  is  very  common  practice  among 
mechanical  draftsmen.  In  this  class  of  ruled  letter 
too  much  care  cannot  be  expended  upon  the  pencil  lay- 
out ;  the  better  the  draftsman,  therefore,  the  better  the 
letter  even  if  ruled. 

When  letters  are  thus  laid  out  in  pencil  some  consistent 
plan  should  be  followed  in  cop^'ing  them  in  ink,  that  is, 
a  plan  which  will  insure  correct  interpretation  of  the 
pencil-lines.  This  is  more  essential  in  the  case  of  ruled 
letters  than  it  is  for  free-hand  treatment,  because  when 
ruling  is  in  progress  it  is  very  diffictdt  to  interpret 
the  letter  shapes  and  to  correct  through  the  handling 
any  defects  in  the  forms;  one  very  natiu-ally  depends 
upon  the  straight-edge  and  ruling-pen  to  do  the  work 
correctly.  In  the  cur\'ed  forms,  the  bane  of  the  in- 
experienced, extreme  care  in  the  centering  of  the  com- 
pass is  in  order ;  in  work  of  any  size  it  is  probably  safest 
to  lay  out  the  center  in  the  penciling  with  straight 
lines  crossing  one  another  and  a  small  free-hand  circle 
to  mark  the  intersection  so  that  it  can  easily  be  foimd. 
It  is  perhaps  best  to  copy  a  free-hand  curve  with  located 
centers,  in  this  way,  than  it  is  to  lay  out  the  cur^-es 
entirely  by  mechanical  methods  in  pencil,  because  the 
former  permits  of  slight  adjustments. 

The  same  advice  can  also  here  be  given  that  was  given 
for  free-hand  treatment  in  the  matter  of    building  up 


MECHANICAL  AIDS   TO  LETTERING.  93 

the  Gothic  letter  of  moderately  heavy  body  by  fine 
contour  lines,  in  preference  to  adding  to  the  first  stroke 
until  it  acquires  the  proper  weight.  If  a  contour  line 
is  used,  there  is  chance  before  filling  in,  by  whatever 
method,  to  inspect  the  forms  and  correct  before  too 
much  careful  work  has  to  be  rubbed  out.  In  filling 
in  such  forms,  a  brush  or  the  writing-pen  is  probably 
more  expeditious  than  the  ruling-pen ;  there  is  also  in 
the  former  less  likelihood  of  blotting. 

It  is  an  open  question  whether  any  person  with  ordi- 
nary capacity  may  not  make  of  himself,  with  well-directed 
and  persistent  effort,  an  acceptable  free-hand  letterer. 
It  is  quite  probable  that  many  fail  because  of  a  hastily 
formed  impression  that  they  cannot  do  it  and  from 
that  time  on  depend  entirely  upon  some  mechanical 
treatment.  Dependence  upon  such  gradually  spoils 
whatever  latent  capacity  may  exist.  It  is  to  be  strongly 
urged  upon  the  timid  to  try  to  acquire  a  facility  with 
the  pencil  and  pen  free-hand.  This  may  be  accom- 
plished, if  time  for  separate  practice  is  not  available, 
by  cutting  away  gradually  from  dependence  upon 
mechanical  aids;  keep  the  mind  continually  alive  to  the 
proper  development  of  the  letter  forms;  gradually  use 
more  and  more  free-hand  treatment ;  it  will  be  surpris- 
ing how  this  sort  of  facility  will  come  with  practice. 

57.  Drafting-room  Practice  in  the  Use  of  Stock   Titles 
Reproduced  in  Blue-prints,  etc. 
Since  careful  lettering  takes  time  and  time  is  money, 


94  FREE-HAND  LETTERING, 

it  has  become  customar}-  in  many  manufacturing  and 
engineering  establishments  to  use  a  stock  form  for  the 
lettering  which  is  to  appear  repeatedly  upon  the  draw- 
ings, the  main  title  for  example.  The  title  is  printed 
upon  a  piece  of  tracing-cloth  to  be  inserted  beneath 
the  drawing  when  a  blue-print  is  made,  or  it  is  printed 
in  good  black  ink  on  the  tracing-cloth  by  means  of  a 
regular  printing-press,  or  still  again,  what  is  more  com- 
mon, the  tracing  is  stamped  with  the  required  lettering, 
using  a  rubber  stamp  for  the  purpose.  The  draftsman 
goes  over  this  afterwards  with  the  pen,  copying  the 
stamped  letters;  it  is  a  matter  occupying  but  a  few 
moments'  time,  because  the  ink  from  the  stamp  guides 
and  absorbs  up  to  its  limits  the  India  ink  from  the  pen, 
rendering  careful  contouring  unnecessar}*.  To  illustrate 
these  forms  of  reproducing  lettering  Plates  XIII  and 
XIV  are  introduced.  The  first  one,  on  Plate  XIV, 
shows  a  title  printed  from  the  printing-press  directly 
upon  the  cloth.  It  contains  so  much  matter  that  a 
considerable  amoimt  of  time  wotdd  be  consimied  in 
laying  it  aU  out  free-hand.  Number  i  on  Plate  XIII  is 
also  one  of  this  class.  Number  2  on  the  same  plate 
shows  a  mechanically  drawn  letter  throughout.  As  a 
time-saver  the  stamping  process  is  thoroughly  successful. 

58.  Lettering  Triangles. 

It  may  be  thought  by  some  that  this  sur\'ey  would 
not  be  complete  without  some  mention  of  the  lettering 
triangles  in  common  use.     These,   also,   properl}^  come 


MECH/iNICAL  AIDS  TO  LETTERING.  95 

under  the  head  of  mechanical  aids.  They  can  be  ob- 
tained at  the  stores,  and  consist  of  a  combination  of 
angles  suited  to  the  various  inclinations  in  any  given 
alphabet,  the  A,  K,  N,  etc.  They  are  regarded  by 
some  as  qmte  useful.  Their  range  is  limited,  however, 
being  suitable  only  for  certain  proportions  of  letters 
near  the  standard;  letters  of  very  different  proportions 
grow  awkward  in  their  form  if  made  with  them.  En- 
couragement should  not  be  given  to  these  aids;  the 
usual  30°  and  60°  and  the  45°  triangles  will  be  foimd  to 
give  better  service,  the  unaided  eye  being  depended 
upon  to  scale  inclinations. 


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PLATE  XIII. 


I. 

AMERICAN  BRIDGE  CO., 

EDGEMOOR    PLANT. 

A.  B.  Co.  Contr.  No. -In  Charge  of._/^///i?/?^... 

Made  by.A_Z.£r. Date.^/?.J3^^.Rev,...<^i^.^. 

Checked  by.  £^J^' Date .^IZ^/p.  <?._Rev;._ , 

Order  No Sheet  H0..IZ... 

n 

FURNHCE      E-f" 

FRONT  COLUMNro^ORE  BIN 

Cdldrrdd  Fuel^^Irdn  Cdmphny 

PUEBLD  CdLD. 

Rmeridrn  Bridge  DaMPRNY 
Pittsburgh  Pn 

Shiffler  Plrnt 
IE. 

Rear  Column 

For 
Ore  Bins^  FurnaceT* 
Colorado  Fuel  S^Iron  Compani^ 
Pueblo,       Colo. 


American  Bridc^e  Companif 
Shiftier  PJaht 

Pittsburg.  Ra.  z/an2Uff0Z 

See  pages  65,  71,  93,  94. 


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